Reversal
by Venath
Summary: AU. Time travel. Attempt to put some original twists on a favorite. During one last battle with the Akatsuki, Naruto gets tossed back in time to his pre-Genin days.
1. Reversal

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: Revised version, so I'll go ahead and add this little note right from the start: This story was being developed and written before the Sasuke-Itachi confrontation occurred. It was also written before the Third Databook was released, and definitely before it was translated. I _will_ include various elements that work well with the story I had planned, or that I just happen to like, from the manga and databook. However, I'm not rewriting every last detail to coincide with canon. If that were my goal then I'd just write a novelization.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was dying. He wasn't completely sure how that was possible with the Kyuubi powering him—the demon fox was obsessed with living at all costs even if it meant keeping his host alive, though Naruto had to wonder whether or not it was even possible to truly kill the thing—but it was happening. Fortunately for Naruto, the Kyuubi wasn't one to simply lie down and die. In fact, he was quite a stubborn beast. Something the human and the fox actually had in common. It had kept both of them alive, or as alive as the Kyuubi could be considered while trapped in his host's mind—and in their few confrontations it had explained just how cheerfully it went about planning to show him just how lively it could be when it finally freed itself—on a great many occasions.

So while Naruto was surprised that his body was dying, he wasn't surprised to find himself in the familiar catacombs of his mind. Nor was he surprised at the face behind the bars that he'd gotten so used to seeing in situations where he needed the help.

"You've really done it now, brat."

"…'m tired." _So tired…_He'd fought. His entire life, he'd fought as hard as possible for acknowledgement, for his friends, for his village, but in the end it failed all the same.

"I don't care. Get back in control of this pathetic body and finish what you started. I will _not_ become that disgusting creature's pet again."

"I can't." Not a cry, not a plea, just a simple statement of fact. It was quite literally beyond his ability. Almost the entire top half of his torso was gone. The only reason he was probably even still aware in any form was because of the seal containing the Kyuubi. Even that would fade sooner or later.

"Damn it all, you pathetic kit! Do you know how hard I've worked to keep this body going for so many years? How many times I've had to pull you back from the brink of death because of your foolish determination to charge blindly into every situation?"

"What can I do? What's left to try? Sorry fox…and I'm not just saying it. I'm really, honestly, truly sorry." The Kyuubi was the last thing that he'd expected to fail, if only because he'd expected it to be satisfied with just about any conclusion that could cause so much chaos. "But I'm out. I've got nothin' left. I wish I could just hop back up, but I can't. Most of 'em are dead by now, the rest will probably follow. Even the snake-bastard probably doesn't have much more fight left. Not against them."

"…You've never stopped before. Why now?" The fox didn't seem quite as angry as before. It wasn't pleased, it certainly wasn't comforting by any measure. It seemed almost…confused.

"Like I said. Nothin' left. No chakra, no reason, no chance. It's a lost cause. Heh. Never thought I'd say somethin' like that." They'd just never been so completely outmatched before. On the losing side, sure, but one of these people had obliterated the entire village already. Most of the Akatsuki was gone, but the few that were left…Well, they were just plain impossible to defeat, especially working together.

"Worthless insects, all of you. If you aren't going to do anything about this, then I will. Hm…Let's do a little reality bending."

"Say what?" _Reality bending? What's the crazy old fox on about?_

"I'm not ready to die, but I'm not going to sit here and fall apart like some whimpering little rodent. I can't say I've ever tried something this extreme, but for once I think I'll take a page out of what did you call it—Ah yes, the Uzumaki Naruto Shinobi Handbook—and charge in like an idiot. No doubt this will hurt." The fox grinned at that. "Very, very badly. Goodnight."

And he was right. If Naruto still had a functioning mouth, he would have screamed.

* * *

Gaara of the Sand was knelt by his fellow Jinchuuriki's body. Former Jinchuuriki, at least. They'd simply run out. He still had some control over his sand, but nothing like he'd had with Shukaku, at least not after as much fighting as they'd done. For once, he was actually wishing that he'd still had his demon. As it was, he was practically helpless at this point. All of them were. Even the greatest of shinobi wouldn't be able to stave off exhaustion forever.

They hadn't expected some massive final battle. They'd expected Naruto and his team to finish the job. As bizarre as it seemed, defeating enemies that seemed undefeatable was just what Konohagakure's Team Seven did. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite how it happened. The remaining members of the Akatsuki had decided it was time to make one last bid for the Kyuubi after this "Pain" had already decimated Konoha in his initial search for Naruto, and with the Eight-Tailed Beast finally in their hands due to some crafty work by the infamous Hoshigaki Kisame.

At the moment, it was working out rather well for them. Most of Konoha's best were already gone. Tsunade had been killed months earlier, attempting to avenge Jiraiya and save the village. The Akatsuki's leader had done the deed, just as he'd apparently done with at least one of her fellow Sannin. Not to mention most of the Leaf Village. Naruto had been blaming himself ever since, insisting that he could have helped if he'd only learned of the invasion sooner, finished his training properly instead of taking so long to mourn his lost mentor.

The right-hand of the Akatsuki—if he could really be called such, they weren't completely clear on that—was vicious. Unstoppable. A seemingly endless supply of summons, the ability to absorb Ninjutsu and negate Taijutsu, borderline immortality, control over every chakra element…He'd already killed a considerable number of Konoha's finest, and none of their allies would be able to get more help to them any time soon. Not long ago the Raikage had tried to call for an alliance after the kidnapping of Kumogakure's last Jinchuuriki, but it had ended in a miserable failure. Ambushes by the Akatsuki had left the Tsuchikage and Raikage dead, the Mizukage and Hokage missing, and since he was still recovering his powers after losing Shukaku he was of limited use on his own. Suna had welcomed Konoha's refugees, but even their combined forces weren't nearly enough and they couldn't count on the other villages to help when they were in chaos with the loss of their leaders.

And now, their attackers had already finished most of the Jonin and started working on the other shinobi of Naruto's class.

The now-deceased Lee's master, Guy and his remaining students were busy trying to defeat the blue, almost shark-like member of the Akatsuki. The greatest of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, they called him. Sakura and the three shinobi that had been traveling with Sasuke had left in pursuit of the strange plant-like Akatsuki agent some time earlier, when the numbers had still been to their advantage, after he'd killed the young Uchiha by surprise. Apparently his one-time enemy, as well as his allies, had been planning to turn on the Akatsuki when the time arrived (For what reason? Perhaps only the fallen Uchiha could have revealed the truth) and Zetsu had simply been waiting for his own opportunity to deal with the traitors.

Looking into the distance, he watched the battle that none of them had seen coming. Nothing in the world could have prepared them for Orochimaru to come to their aid, courtesy of his servant's absorption of his remains. He was supposed to be dead, after all. Of course, none of them believed for a second that it was out of good will towards them or Konoha. In fact, he'd probably come with the intention of taking Sasuke's body. But with Sasuke dead when he arrived, he'd turned his eyes on the only remaining Sharingan wielder on the field. The duel between them had only gone on for moments before Orochimaru had assumed his immense serpentine form, drawing on his last resort when the Uchiha easily subdued him.

And he was still losing to Madara. He was performing far better than any of them had, certainly. However, slowly but surely, he was being pushed back just as everyone else had been.

So there Gaara knelt, next to the body of one of the few people he could call a friend. He couldn't aid any of the others in a fight, considering how weak as he was at the moment. Between time it was taking to regain his powers, attempting to readjust to being susceptible to illness and sleep deprivation, and attempting to fight as he had when he still hosted the beast, he was far too drained to do much more than watch and fend off stray attacks. But standing guard over his friend's remains was the least he could do to repay all the blonde child had done. Then there was a great cry, almost a shriek, as the massive eight-headed snake fell. A standing but clearly weakened figure with dark hair emerged from the mouth of the final head, crawling to his feet.

As the last remaining Sannin pulled the Kusanagi sword from his mouth, preparing for yet another battle with the last remaining Uchiha, Gaara heard something from behind him. Turning his eyes from the battlefield, he saw that a seal on Naruto's stomach had started to glow a bright scarlet. Before he had a chance to wonder what was happening, the world exploded into fire, an excruciating pain coursing through his body, followed by darkness and silence.

* * *

AN: Yep. Much prefer the revised version. Anyway, until next time.


	2. Feeling Young Again

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: Here's the rewritten version of Chapter 2. Not too many changes, but a few pieces here and there.

* * *

He hurt like hell. That was all he could think of to describe it. Eyes slowly opening, he quickly closed them again, turning into his pillow to get away from the light. Wait, pillow? Shooting up in his bed, he frantically looked around, wondering what was going on.

_Did I survive?_ How could he be? What had happened? Where was everyone? Bringing his hand to his forehead, he noted yet another problem. _And why the hell am I so small? Ugh…_

He looked up at the ratty calendar on the wall, surprised to find that it was the old one he'd kept as a child. The problem was that the calendar was quite obviously wrong. According to the date, he should have been about…seven? Taking a moment to think, his hazy mind pulled a few recent memories. They Kyuubi had done something. He wasn't sure what, but he knew that he'd heard the Kyuubi saying something about "bending reality" or some such nonsense. So what, the giant ball of furry-looking chakra could send him back in time now?

On the other hand, there really weren't many other reasons he could think of for why he was in a far younger version of his body, with no signs of Madara, Pain, or the Snake-Bastard anywhere. Maybe he was dead, and this was all some kind of strange afterlife? Or a Genjutsu of some kind…But what reason would they have to put him in a Genjutsu when he and the others were so clearly going to fail? They'd certainly never come off as the merciful sort, so he doubted it was a final act of kindness for a dying enemy.

Of course, if he had in fact gone through some kind of freakish reality shift, he was probably just in shock, and the reality of it would hit him later. Regardless of what had happened he'd never been one to sit around thinking. He was more of an action person, and at this particular moment the only thing that would help him figure out what was going on was probably just such an action.

_Well, only one way to find out._ Delving into his mind, he found himself in front of a familiar set of barred doors, the seal holding them together still holding strong. Strangely, in this place his body was still that of a young adult. It was a little comforting to know that he wasn't just going completely insane. At the very least he knew that the Kyuubi was really there. Yet even though the place was very familiar to him, as was his mental image of himself, the sight inside was far from anything he'd seen while entering his mind before. The Kyuubi was in his cage, just as he'd expected the beast to be. However, there were some rather noticeable—and frankly, disturbing—differences.

The sleeping fox was only a fraction of its normal size, and what was left didn't present an imposing image. Its "fur" was scattered and thin, missing in other places, and the translucent reddish tissue below was pulled tight over visible bone and muscle. It was missing all but a single tail, which was in only slightly better condition than the rest of its body, and to top it off there was a flood of pulsating chakra circling the slumbering beast, crawling over its mangy coat. Simply put, he'd seen rotten carcasses that had pulled off a more lively look.

As he called out to the slumbering giant, a deep displeased rumble echoed from its mouth.

As was his nature, Naruto only paid heed to this warning for a matter of seconds before the rather twisted form of logic he'd developed came into play. This particular brand of logic had a very simple solution to problems such as the one he was faced with: If you want something to wake up, and calling it doesn't work, poke it with a stick. If no stick is available then just settle for hitting it with something. And so hit the fox he did. Several times, in fact. He wasn't completely sure where the stones came from, but there were plenty of them sitting around on the ground. And if they were there then why not use them? It was his mind, after all, so they'd probably just appeared because he wanted something to pester the old fox with. Within moments, he remembered just why he needed to be more careful when using what he'd come to call his "Super Amazing Genius Logic."

It tended to lead him into trouble. "Trouble" in this case translating into an angry, several story high tall fox slamming itself against the bars of its cage, and trying to smash him with a huge paw, snarling curses at him all the while. Yeah, it might have been smaller and rattier than before, but it had been a giant capable of towering over pretty much every building in Konohagakure during its attack on the village, so that wasn't saying much. Even at a mere fraction of its normal size, the demonic beast still completely dwarfed him.

"Hey, would you just calm down already, ya crazy old fuzzball?" Finally noting what was right in front of him, the fox drew back from the edge of its cage, giving him an angry yet questioning glare as its mind began to settle.

"Yo. How are things going in there, Kyuu-chan?"

_**"Who are…"**_ Its eyes widened by a barely noticeable margin._**"No, you couldn't be."**_ Naruto's eyes narrowed, taking in the Kyuubi's expression. It looked confused, amazed even. No, the fox was never confused. Or, at least, it never let on that it was. Shocked maybe, but never completely unable to comprehend a situation.

"What? What couldn't I be?" _What's with you, you old pain in the gut?_

_**"You are my host. My Jinchuuriki."**_

"Um, duh? It's not like that's anything new. Seriously, what's the deal with you?" It didn't seem interested in listening.

_**"Impossible…I couldn't have been slumbering for so long."**_ Its focus returned to the small human in front of its cage._** "You, brat, how old have you become? What is your age? Tell me!"**_

_Huh?_

"What're you freaking out about? You were talking to me just a little while ago. Y'know, with the Uchiha, crazy Snake-Bastard, piercing man? Any of this ringing a bell?" The Kyuubi's uncomprehending expression turned completely baffled, and the anger boiling below the surface of his typically calm (albeit sadistic) exterior was beginning to show. But then he never _had_ liked it when Naruto talked down to him like that. _Let's see…Oh._

"Um…You said something about reality bending?" The Kyuubi moved as though it was going to speak again, but instead turned away, pacing around in the cage. Naruto absently wondered if being smaller was more comfortable, given that pacing wasn't really an available option for the fox the last time he'd seen it. After it continued this for several minutes, Naruto was starting to get impatient. _Oh come on already, say something!_ And, perhaps unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for those thoughts to make their way through the rather ineffective filter between his mind and mouth. Sometimes he really cursed his lack of patience, but in this case he just plain didn't care.

"Yo, fox! What's the holdup? Do ya know what's goin' on, or is all that fur on your head makin' it too hard to think?" His "prisoner" growled at him, before walking back up to the bars, glaring down at his smaller form.

_**"If I said I was 'bending reality' then I likely was."**_ Well, wasn't that just a clear and simple explanation._** "Tell me, how old are you?"**_

"Sevent-I mean, seven. According to that calendar, anyway. But like ten years older last I remember."

The fox looked him over for a moment. "I see…" Beginning its pacing again, Naruto dropped to the ground with an all-too-audible sigh. This could take a while. He supposed it was a good thing he was stubborn, then. Minutes passed. Hours passed. Days passed. Or maybe he was just really, really getting bored with watching the fox trot back and forth across its cage.

"Alright fuzzy, c'mon. Need-to-know info needed right here, right now."

_**"I might have sent you—us—back in time."**_

"Huh? You can do that." That would have been a nifty piece of information to have had at their disposal earlier.

_**"I'm not completely certain. I've always considered testing it to see, but I've never tried before. Or at least, I don't believe I have."**_

"You don't know?" _Talk about a bad memory. I mean really, what kind of crazy does it take for somebody to not remember that he could go back in time?_ The Kyuubi didn't growl, instead choosing to release a condescending huff at the boy.

_**"I didn't even remember meeting you. I wasn't even sure who you were at first. And I'm severely low on chakra. It may require so much energy that I rest until I've regenerated, unaware of whether or not I even did so. An…intervention, like yours," **_he said this without attempting to hide the obvious aggravation,_** "May have simply been something that hasn't occurred before."**_

"Wait, but you said 'This will hurt. Badly' before you did whatever it is you did. How would you know that if you didn't know?"

_**"…It's not like I've never played with reality before. Just never to a significant extreme. Even miniscule changes take a major toll. I haven't done it in years. The last time I attempted to change time was over one hundred years ago, and only by a few days. For that, I lost two tails, and nearly fell to the Hachibi. Damned tentacled ox almost had me that time."**_

"…Oh." Well that would explain it. Sort of. "Think anybody could have come with us?"

He was positive that he'd felt something there with him when he was being pulled back…The last time he'd seen anyone, Gaara and Ino had been with him, not that they would have been any use. It wasn't an insult to them, but Gaara's recovery from losing Shukaku was taking a long time, and he wouldn't stand a chance against Madara (Hell, even with Shukaku, he might not have stood a chance against Madara). As for Ino, well, her main advantage came from the Yamanaka techniques that affected the mind, which would most likely fail against someone with the Mangekyo Sharingan and one hundred years of experience.

_**"It might be possible. I've already admitted that I don't know the ins and outs of time travel. I must have been desperate to try it in the first place. What more do you want? I probably saved your life. Pathetic, weak little creatures that your kind are, I've no doubt that you needed my help often."**_

Well, it was worth a shot. "Man, we get into some crazy stuff."

_**"We do, do we?"**_ Was the fox actually amused?

_Oh yeah, no memory._ "Yeah, we always got into all sorts a trouble." The fox's brow rose up, clearly disbelieving. "Okay, so it was usually me that got into trouble, but who cares about the details, right?"

_**"So if you're a mere pup again, would you not have somewhere to be? Your culture is hardly a specialty of mine, but even you primitive, hairless monkeys must have some form of tasks that the young are meant to perform."**_

_Eh?_

"Whattya mean? Where would I ne-" _Aw crap!_ "The academy! Oh man, I'm gonna be late!" And suddenly he was gone, leaving a smirking fox who quickly fell back into a deep slumber, waiting to regenerate his chakra.

For the second time in less than five minutes, Naruto leaped up in his bed. This time, however, he was already sitting up when he jumped. The result was a very disgruntled child trying his best to untangle himself from the bed sheets, scrambling for whatever clothes were closest to him. Less than a minute later, still pulling a shoe on, Naruto hopped from his room on one leg, a package of cup ramen hanging from his mouth. Somehow managing to shut the door behind him, he finally got the shoe on, and began his mad dash for the academy. A mad dash that was brought to a crashing halt not too long afterwards, as he plowed into someone while running through the streets.

"Sorry Fishnet, gotta go." Of course, he wasn't going to get away that easily. As he jumped up and started to run, he found himself in the air, running in place. Stopping his "run," he turned his head to the woman holding him up by the back of his shirt, glancing at the woman with obvious and exaggerated frustration. He might just be able to make it to the academy on time if nothing else went wrong, and this was pushing it.

"Fishnet?" Mitarashi Anko hadn't been called Fishnet before. It sort of fit of course, so she wasn't going to complain about it. In all honesty she kind of liked meeting a kid who had the guts to say something like that to her face. But she was still annoyed at the boy for crashing into her. She'd almost lost her dango and in Mitarashi Anko's books, such an action would be unforgivable…

"Don't like Fishnet? What about Dango Lady?"

Narrowing her eyes, Anko shook the small boy a few times. Fishnet was fine, cute even, but insulting the dango was a big no-no. "It's Anko. And I almost lost my dango because of you, blondie."

"Oh c'mon, Dango Lady, it's not like ya really lost it! I'm gonna be late, so you can just lemme go now." Did she just get dismissed by a child? The Hokage could dismiss her. Jiraiya or Tsunade could dismiss her. Jonin like Kakashi and Asuma and a few of her peers could dismiss her. A prepubescent brat? Hell no.

"Okay, just listen up you little hellspawn, because I'm not saying it again. I told you, my name i-"

"Academy! Late!"

Her eyes shot behind him to the right for a moment, and she dropped him to the ground. _Ugh. Fine._ "Alright, but watch where you're goin' next time, you little maggot."

Muttering some quick and rather insincere thanks to the woman, Naruto sped off towards the academy yet again, leaving an annoyed Anko in his tracks. Turning to the man that had drawn her attention, she faced the silver-haired Jonin leaning against the nearby wall.

"So why'd you want me to let him go? Not like I was gonna hurt the brat. Much." _And I thought I might finally get to have a little fun. Everyone around here is so boring. He may have been a brat, but the runt had balls._

"He's late. It wouldn't be nice to hold him back now, would it? His tardiness record is bad enough as it is."

_Wait…_Now that she thought about it, the kid _had_ looked familiar. "Who was the runt anyway?"

"You don't recognize him? He's pretty famous around here."

"It's not like I'm around a lot." She looked at where the boy had taken off just a few moments earlier, and stood lost in thought for a several minutes, flashing through memories of the many shinobi profiles they were required to read. "It was him, wasn't it? The fox…"

"Yep. He's the one. Lively, eh?"

"Little maggot was pretty hyper" _Seems like a little brat._ She didn't even notice the smirk slowly making its way across her features._ I like him._

"You like him."

Anko chuckled. She'd have to keep tabs on the kid.

* * *

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto slammed through the door, gasping for breath. Not that he really needed to. He never ran out of energy that fast. In retrospect, it was somewhat amazing that he'd never realized there was something unusual about him before Mizuki let the cat out of the bag about his secret.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka sighed. He was hardly surprised. Naruto was a good kid at heart, but he had serious priority issues. "Late again."

Naruto's jaw dropped. He could've sworn he'd made it in time. _Oh come on!_

* * *

AN: Hope you liked the rewrite. The rest of the rewrites and the new chapter should be up soon (Same goes for several of my other stories).


	3. Reintroduction

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this…Or Maybe I would. Who knows?

AN: Well, some more revisions are here. Also, just as a fun fact, this chapter was the first one written after the manga revealed the details on the Uchiha Massacre, as well as the truth about Itachi's actions (At least, they were true as of this revision. Maybe there'll be another big reveal at some point).

* * *

"Hi! Whatcha doin'?" Sure, he'd intended to find Sasuke so he could try to make friends with him first, but then he saw Sakura and Ino at the playground and just couldn't help himself. After all, if he had everything planned out right, there was still a little time before Itachi would make his move. He needed to relax a little anyway.

The two girls shared a look, and Ino responded with a fair bit of hesitation. "Our parents say we're not supposed to play with you."

_Oh yeah, that's definitely familiar._ "Um…can I ask why?"

The girls shrugged. "Dad just said not to." Ino seemed to relax a little, turning to Sakura. "What about your mom, Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl just shook her head, not uttering a word.

_Well, I guess she was pretty shy when she was little._ "Well that ain't very fair…Can I hang around with you? I mean, you're just not supposed to play with me, right? So if I just kinda sit around it shouldn't be a big deal."

"Yeah," The blonde girl smiled at him. "I guess that's true. My name's Ino, and that's-" She pointed over at her companion.

"Sakura." I _guess we hadn't really been formally introduced yet at this age._ "Yeah, I've seen you two at the academy. I'm Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. Thanks for letting me stick around." Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his head. "So what're you doin'?"

Ino held up a small arrangement of colorful flowers. "Showing Sakura how to make a wreath."

"What is it with girls and flowers?" Seriously, he got the whole thing with giving 'em flowers for gifts, but for the life of him, Naruto couldn't figure out what was so special about the things. Well…okay, so maybe they _were_ kind of nice to look at. Especially the orange ones. Orange was just awesome. And in their spare time, sometimes Sakura had taken to telling him about all the antidotes and poisons and things that medics could do with them, so they _could_ actually be useful…

Ino's face turned sour at the comment, and she settled on sending him a (far too cute to be taken seriously) glare. "What is it with boys and getting all dirty and gross?" While Ino chastised him, Sakura crossed her arms and matched Ino's expression towards the boy.

"It's…fun?"The girls let out a sigh, obviously sharing the same thought.

Boys were stupid, plain and simple.

So maybe he wasn't exactly a big fan of flowers or all this jewelry making stuff, but hey, why not? "So, uh…How do you put these things together?"

Ino gave him an odd glance. "We're not supposed to play with you, remember?"

Naruto was about to make an excuse, when Sakura spoke with a quiet voice. "It's more like teaching though, right? So we're not really playing."

Ino seemed to think it over, and Naruto grinned at Sakura. She always had been the smartest member of Team Seven, so it was natural that she'd find a loophole. Naruto would've just said to ignore it. Sasuke…he couldn't honestly picture Sasuke even considering the issue worth his time.

"Yeah," Ino smiled at him again. "That makes sense. Well, first you start b-"

"Sakura! Ino! What do you two think you're doing!" The three looked up to see a woman with pink hair glaring down at them. Or more accurately, glaring down at Naruto.

_Definitely Sakura's mom._ Maybe he should've waited for a better time.

"Mom, what's wro-"

"Don't 'what's wrong' me missy! You're father and I have already told you, we don't want you associating with him!" She turned towards the other girl, both of them looking away with a cringe at the woman's voice. "And you, Ino. What would your parents have to say?"

"But mommy, we were just-"

"I don't want to hear it!" The woman was almost shouting, and Naruto winced at the tone. It reminded him way too much of an angry Sakura. Something that rarely ended well for him. "You two are coming with me. Now!"

"But-"

"Right. Now."

Not wanting to anger the woman any further, Ino and Sakura took her outstretched hands, looking back at their new friend with apologetic glances. He simply grinned at them, and gave a small wave before walking off in the other direction, as if Mrs. Haruno had simply told them it was time to go and that they could come back the next day.

Well…that didn't go as well as he'd hoped. Now, evening was starting to make its way in, which meant he had more important business to attend to…

His first, his _only,_ order of business in the evenings was simple: Uchiha Itachi. Sasuke had never really gone into much detail on his past, and Naruto only managed to gather so much from those few others that had been willing to answer his questions. Itachi's madness had spiraled out of control and led to the destruction of his clan only after he'd supposedly murdered one of their cousins, Shusu…Shisun…something. One of the unfortunate drawbacks to being rivals was that they never really had those heart-to-heart conversations unless it was in the middle of beating the living stuffing out of one another, and even if they hadn't spent more time fighting than talking, neither of them was honestly all that comfortable with talking about the things they'd been through.

Still, he was pretty sure Sasuke had mentioned that it was around this time. Yeah, it was around this week. Or month. Or maybe it was this season. Damnit, he knew that it was this year, and he'd make sure it was stopped even if he had to patrol the entire village each and every day. With that mental declaration firmly established, Naruto settled himself and prepared to enter Sage Mode. He wasn't particularly familiar with Itachi's chakra, but the Uchiha all tended to feel pretty similar, so it was easiest to start sensing around areas that were more secluded. What else did he have to do with his time anyway? His ability to change things right now was limited by that whole "not a shinobi yet" thing, but there was still _something_ he could do, and this was it.

* * *

"Lord Hokage?" The brown haired Chunin entered the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Ah, Iruka. You wished to speak with me about something?"

"It's about Naruto." The Hokage sighed, not completely sure he wanted to know what Iruka had to say about that particular issue. More often than not, it was because the boy was causing some kind of trouble. Still, he was definitely an entertaining distraction.

"What has he gotten into this time?"

"Well, it's not that he's really gotten into anything. He's actually been really well behaved the last several days." It wasn't coincidence that both of them were starting to wonder what the kid was planning. The young Uzumaki was never that well behaved.

"Hmm, I suppose it has been rather quiet around the village." Far too quiet to be considered a good sign. This kind of calm, silent peace could only mean that a storm was coming. _What is that boy up to this time?_ Oh well. He would have time to ponder later. For now, he needed to tend to Iruka's concerns.

"Well, if he's not in trouble, what's the problem?"

"You check up on him pretty often, don't you Lord Hokage?" Iruka seemed a little worried, which wasn't all that uncommon when it came to his student, but this seemed like genuine concern rather than just frustration over the child's attitude or what prank he might be planning next.

"I watch after him quite often. It can be hard not to, sometimes, with all of the attention he brings to himself." They both knew that it was more about protecting him than about watching his antics. Even if he _had_ pulled off some pretty good jokes once in a while.

"Have noticed anything…off, about him? Just in the last few days, I mean."

"Well, he has been acting a little more reserved than usual, but it's not the first time. I suppose you still remember the incident at the Uchiha Compound, correct?" Iruka nodded at that. It was hard to forget how angry Fugaku, head of the Uchiha Clan, had been at waking up to find every one of the clan's symbols orange and blue, including those on the Police Corps. Headquarters. What was Naruto's reaction?

Totally worth it.

"But you don't believe this is the case?" It was more of a statement than a question. The Hokage paused, thinking back over Naruto's recent activities. "He was spending a considerable amount of time near the Uchiha compound yesterday. I suppose he could be planning another prank on the clan…"

That he was spending time around the Uchiha Compound at all was worrying. Sarutobi believed the Uchiha, for the most part, were fine people. But Danzo would certainly be suspicious if the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki suddenly started spending time around the only group of people known to have a technique capable of controlling the Kyuubi itself, at least now that Mokuton was essentially extinct. He was already suspicious enough of the Uchiha as it was. Admittedly, while he couldn't agree with all of Danzo's beliefs, there was no denying that their talks with the leadership of the clan regarding possible reevaluations of their current living conditions were quickly spiraling towards what seemed to be an unpleasant conclusion.

"I don't think so, Lord Hokage. I mean, he doesn't usually pull pranks that big very often, and definitely not on the same people. Not this close together."

"Yes, it would be quite unusual of him." Sarutobi stood. "It's too late tonight, and I still have business to attend to. I'll speak with him tomorrow. I'm sure we can sort this out."

As Iruka left, the Third Hokage began to prepare for his later meeting with Danzo. He intended to get to the bottom of this rumored conspiracy that his old friend was so obsessed with, and hopefully he'd be able to reason with the paranoid (albeit with good reason) war hawk. Nearly an hour later, Danzo entered the room without warning, coming to stand in front of the Hokage.

"Lord Hokage." The old rivals exchanged polite nods. "This is in regards to the plans for the Uchiha, I presume?"

Danzo pulled a nearby chair in front of the Hokage's desk, and sat down to face his former friend.

"You assume correctly, Danzo. There is a problem, we both know that, but we must think about this rationally. We cannot act without considering the consequences first. If there is a conspiracy, the entire Uchiha clan cannot possibly be involved. If nothing else, I'm certain of the loyalties of at least a few of their people. We must weed out those behind the movement before making any decisions.

"And how, Lord Hokage, do you propose we do this? Itachi is the most effective spy we could hope to have placed within their inner circle. He is the son of the highest authority in their ranks, one of the most skilled shinobi in the village, and they believe that he is in fact acting as a spy on their behalf. If _he_ has yet to uncover their secrets, then what more can we do?"

The Hokage held back a sigh, not wanting to show his frustration. This was getting nowhere. As Hokage, he didn't _need_ Danzo's approval for anything. Still, their lives were too closely intertwined for him to simply ignore his advisement, no matter how they may have disagreed at times. In fact, it was one of the very reasons he sought the man's advice above all others. Koharu and Homura voiced their disagreement often, but neither was willing to truly _fight_ him on such matters. While he was proud to have their trust and respect, their history pushed it well beyond the line of even his title. They were too close to him. Danzo, on the other hand…perhaps he hadn't abandoned their friendship, somewhere in the depths of his heart, but neither would he restrain himself or his beliefs for the Hokage's sake.

"I plan to speak with Captain Fugaku of these suspicions. Surely we can come to some sort of understanding?"

Danzo leaned back in his chair, intertwining his fingers, and looked down at his clasped hands before speaking.

"I'm afraid it's too late for that, Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen's eyes widened for a moment, only just a fraction, that anyone else might have missed. His expression rapidly settled into a dark grimace. Danzo knew that expression well. He wasn't dealing with the kindly old grandfather or the stern-yet-understanding mentor and comrade. This was the Hokage, pure and unhindered by emotion…this was the part of his old rival that he still respected. "Danzo, what have you done?"

"Only what needed to be done, Lord Hokage."

Before the elderly man could question him further, they both turned, facing towards the Nakano River. It was impossible for either to miss the large flare of all-too-familiar chakra, malicious and brutal, and there was only one person it from whom it could have originated.

_Naruto!_

_The Jinchuuriki!_

* * *

Naruto had been walking through the forested area near the Nakano River when he'd found who he was looking for. He couldn't do anything at the time seeing as he couldn't simply attack Itachi without reason, especially with someone else there to see it. So instead, he'd dropped to the ground and done something that had never really been his specialty. He waited.

_Ugh. So boring._ If it hadn't been so important, it wouldn't even be a question of whether or not he _would_ stay. It would only be an issue of how long his incredibly limited patience would last.

It was already dark out, and Itachi had been talking to the other man–Shisui, that was his name–for several minutes when Naruto finally got the chance to act. Though admittedly, he hadn't honestly expected the chance to even arrive this week, much less this very day. He'd been staring into space, listening only half-heartedly, when he heard a sudden commotion from near the place they'd been standing. Leaping to his feet, he took a moment to appraise at the two. Apparently Itachi had caught the man by surprise, as he had a tight hold on him, and was forcing his head into the water nearby.

With the knowledge that he didn't have much time firmly in place, Naruto figured he'd best begin to put his plan into action. Focusing on the power buried inside of the seal, he began to summon the Kyuubi's chakra. He doubted he could take Itachi at his current state, even with the help of the fox's energy. Itachi was practically a legend for a reason, and even if his body wasn't simply too young and underdeveloped, he still hadn't actually been able to outwit or overpower the man when he'd been older and more able.

That didn't mean he was incapable of getting a good sucker punch in though.

More importantly, using the beast's chakra would attract some attention. Specifically, it would attract the attention of the Hokage and ANBU, who would be the deciding factor. After all, they would be coming fully equipped to deal with the Kyuubi, broken free of its seal, so they would certainly be equipped to deal with Itachi. And for all of his natural talent, _this_ Itachi was also younger and less experienced, and missing the most powerful jutsu that his counterpart from the previous life had possessed.

When he saw Itachi's head tilt his direction, his grasp on the other man loosening in surprise, Naruto charged. He must have looked the part of the demon that so many villagers insisted he was, with the orange-red chakra swirling around him like an inferno. He didn't want to pull too much, so a tailed transformation was out of the question, but he could at least add a little flare to the show. As he reached Itachi, he shot out his arm, hoping that between the surprise and his Kyuubi-enhanced strength, he could manage to stun the older boy.

He was not disappointed. To Naruto's surprise, the punch connected with Itachi's jaw at full force, knocking him backwards into the river without so much as a hint of resistance. The older Uchiha pulled himself out of the water, and rolled on his back as he gasped for breath. Naruto was glad that he'd been able to stop the initial attack, but as Itachi stood, he couldn't fight the surge of anxiety that shot through his mind. This 'Shisui' character was still out of it, at least for a little bit, and the element of surprise wasn't going to work to his advantage now that Itachi's focus had shifted to him.

_C'mon people, what the hell?_ He was pouring out the fox's chakra like a freaking waterfall. Where were the reinforcements? Having a few ANBU nearby, or hell, even a few random gate guards, would be nice about now. Seeing Itachi suddenly disappear, Naruto ducked in anticipation of the coming attack, but stayed near the coughing man's body. If Itachi was trying to kill him, it had to be his best friend. Killing your best friend was how Sasuke'd said that you achieved the Mangekyo Sharingan, after all.

Itachi appeared behind him, a windmill shuriken raised above his head, and brought the weapon down. Naruto raised his arm and closed his eyes, anticipating the blow, only to open them in surprise moments later when it didn't come. The Uchiha was staring, edge of the weapon resting mere centimeters from his target, but didn't make any further aggressive movements. Naruto didn't drop his defensive posture either, but even knowing what could happen, he couldn't resist the urge to look into the older shinobi's eyes. They'd only met a couple of times in his life, and one thing that Sasuke's elder brother had never been was expressive.

Yet now he showed a clear expression of consideration, Sharingan focused right back on the red beastlike eyes. Both could feel the strange connection, a sort of interest, or perhaps something entirely different that Naruto probably couldn't even begin figure out. It didn't last for more than an instant, however, as Itachi's attention shifted to something in the distance. The Uchiha flipped backwards, just barely dodging a swarm of kunai, and surveyed the area for a moment. Naruto turned towards the source of the attack and felt his chest constrict.

_Kakashi-sensei…_

Itachi realized who it was as well, and knew it was time to leave. Kakashi of the Sharingan had arrived, Shisui of the Body Flicker was finally recovering and sending a heated expression towards his fellow Uchiha, while the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki stood protectively in front of the man, red chakra still swirling around his small form. Furthermore, it was obvious that there were going to be more shinobi arriving soon as well.

"Shisui. It seems we'll have to continue this another day. And as for you, Jinchuuriki…" Both of the older men stilled at this, apparently having failed to realize that Naruto was actually aware and in control of himself. Itachi closed his eyes, cocking his head to the side in an amused manner. "No. I suppose it doesn't mean anything now."

As he disappeared again, his body flicker more than fast enough to escape any pursuing shinobi that may have come to investigate, and Kakashi turned back towards Naruto and Shisui.

"Anyone care to explain just what the hell is going on here?" He was strangely calm for a man who'd been involved in the battle with the Kyuubi, and who'd lost a close friend and mentor of his own to the beast that was currently trapped in the boy in front of him. As Shisui stood, preparing to explain, Naruto felt his consciousness slipping away, and dropped to the ground moments later. After moving to check on the boy, and finding that he was simply asleep, Shisui turned to the older shinobi.

"Itachi attacked me. The kid…he saved my life."

* * *

AN: Well, this one went through a fair few revisions. I'm still not completely pleased with the Itachi scene, but I like it more than the earlier version.


	4. Delayed

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: Again, not too many changes this time around, but a little bit of cleaning up never hurts.

* * *

This definitely seemed familiar. _**"Human."**_ No response.

_**"Boy."**_ Nothing.

_**"Child."**_ Not a twitch.

_**"Kit."**_ What had he called him before?

_**"Spawn!"**_ Nope.

_**"Midday Snack!"**_ Fun, but not insulting enough.

_**"Brat!"**_ Too cliché.

_**"Awaken this instant, you damnable scum-ridden worthless piece of piss-furred filth!"**_ Yep. That was the ticket.

"Say wha…" Naruto sat up, quickly realizing that he was back in front of the Kyuubi's cage. He rubbed at his eyes for a second, and took a slow look around before they came to rest on the creature in front of him once again. He was spending a surprisingly large amount of time here lately.

"Hey Fuzzy-chan, you're looking better." And he was. He'd gotten bigger, though still not nearly as massive as he'd once been, and he had two tails rather than the one he'd had before. His fur was less patchy, and his flesh didn't stretch so tightly against the bone. Naruto couldn't even act surprised. Its biggest impact on him over the years was its regenerative abilities, after all. It made sense that the fox would replenish its energy pretty quickly. Not that this had stopped him from taunting the demon by referring to him as a "Fuzzy-chan" more and more often.

_**"How many times have you've awakened me from my slumber at this point? And now when you find the time in your busy schedule to waste my own, you decide to take a little nap. What is it that you want? Speak and be gone."**_

"I, uh…Don't know. I just kinda passed out, and here we are."

_**"Passed out? You weren't gone for that long. What could you possibly do that would be nearly exhaustive enough to make you pass out?"**_

"Hey, it's been a coupla days. That's plenty 'a time for me to get into some kind of mess."

_**"…You really weren't kidding when you said we had a tendency to get in trouble."**_

"Told ya."

_**"You don't seem surprised to be here. Has this happened before?"**_

"Eh? Let's see…Yeah, it's happened once or twice. When I get hurt or something, I'll usually pop in and you'll load me up with catchra-"

_**"Chakra."**_

"…All great shinobi say catchra. Anyway, you'll give me catchra 'til I can smash whatever's causin' the problem."

_**"I see. So in summary, you truly are an idiot."**_ Naruto went on, ignoring the question entirely.

"Anyway, I actually do have somethin' ta ask you about."

_**"Hm?"**_

"Well normally, when I use the chakra-"

_**"I thought all great shinobi said catchra."**_

"…"

"…"

"Shut up Fuzzy-chan. Anyway, normally I'm fine. But this time when I used it, I only did it for a few minutes before the lights went out. I don't get it. Any ideas?" The Kyuubi let out a sigh (How did even its sighs manage to sound like roars?), obviously expecting the question, and responding with a slow, exasperated voice that was normally reserved for small children.

_**"Your body is younger, even if your mind is not. If you truly do have such access to my chakra, it's bound to cause a serious strain on your body. Pump my chakra into a flea and see what happens."**_

"A flea, huh?"

"_**An accurate enough analogy, given your remarkable stature."**_

"That's a crack at my height, isn't it?"

"_**Ah, it **_**can**_** learn. Will wonders never cease?"**_

"Hey, it's not my fault I didn't get too much food as a kid. And you're making me get off track. So basically, without the training an' stuff that I had before, that little bit was still too much right?"

_**"Did I not just get finished explaining that? Perhaps I should consider smaller words next time..."**_

"Weeeellll crap. I figured that this might happen, I just didn't expect it such a small amount to push the limit."

_**"You've realized that you're a bumbling fool who overestimates his own abilities. How wonderful. Now get out."**_

They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes, neither really knowing what to talk about, or in the Kyuub's case, simply not wanting to do anything remotely close to socializing with a human, especially this human. On the other hand, Naruto had never liked these silences, so naturally he decided to break it.

"So, how's the weather been in here?" Now if only he'd been any good at small talk.

_**"Dark, rainy, and full of fog. What does that tell you?"**_

"…I've been sleeping a lot?"

_**"You're a talentless fool whose greatest achievement in life is his inability to stop wasting the breathing space of everything else around him. Now leave me be. I still have much rest ahead before I can regain my strength, especially with a **_**certain**_** individual drawing on my power every time it needs to move a leaf."**_

"Gotcha. Later, Fuzzy-chan!"

_**"And stop calling me that!"**_

Moments later, Naruto's eyes began to open, and he quickly shut them again in a futile attempt to block out the bright lights overhead. He put an arm over his eyes, and began to slide them again more slowly, allowing them to adjust to the light change. Everything was white. Way, way too white.

_Definitely in the hospital._ Feeling a strange weight on the opposite end of the bed he sat up and looked forward, only to come face to face with the boy that Itachi had been meeting with so often. The older boy was sitting cross-legged on the end of his bed, staring intently at the young Jinchuuriki across from him.

_Creepy. I'm telling you, their whole family is freakin' creepy._ "…What's up?"

"You saved my life."

"Umm…Yeah, guess so." What, was that something strange? Yeah, they thought he was a monster, but they really wouldn't expect him to save somebody from being drowned?

"You."

_He's not getting over that one, is he?_ "Yep. Me. And who the heck are you?"

"Shisui. Why?" Naruto shrugged at the question. It wasn't as though he could be very honest in this situation.

"I dunno. 'Cause you looked like you needed it?"

Shisui fixed him with an odd stare. "So what was that strange chakra you were using?"

"Huh? That was—it was my…natural…chakra?" _Crap._ It wasn't technically a lie considering he'd had it since not long after he was born, but it sure wasn't a satisfying explanation. Shisui's stare became more thoughtful, and a tad more suspicious.

"Chakra isn't visible. Not normally, anyway. I could see yours clearly even without my Sharingan, and it looked a lot like something from the-"

"Shisui-san." The voice of the Third Hokage spoke from the doorway, a clear hint of warning in his voice that anyone who knew him would recognize. Still, even though the tone held a touch of warning, the grandfatherly smile remained etched on his features. "I need to speak with our young guest. If you could kindly give us a moment, it would be highly appreciated."

The old man stepped forward into the room, followed by the man Shisui recognized as Captain Hatake. Shisui nodded, pushing himself off the foot of the bed and giving the Hokage a small bow before walking from the room, shutting the door behind him. Kakashi watched the door for a moment, lifting the headband to use the Sharingan eye that Naruto now knew he concealed behind the Leaf symbol, before turning to the Hokage and giving him a nod.

"Clear." The Hokage returned the nod, and turned to Naruto with a smile.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. How are you feeling?"

Naruto grunted half-heartedly. "Like crap. I hate hospitals, old man! Thought you'd know that by now."

"You hate hospitals? Whatever for? Free food, friendly neighbors, young, pretty nurses with such short skirts…" The Hokage seemed to drift into his own world, and Kakashi gave a slight cough. Naruto scoffed.

"Oh please. The food sucks even if it _is_ free, the friendly neighbors are smelly old people, boring grownups, and not friendly…everyone else…s. You've got me on the nurses though, gramps." Wait…Am I supposed to be too little to notice that kinda thing right now?

"Hm? Oh, yes." He focused on Naruto again. "My apologies. I'm afraid I drifted off for a moment there. I must be getting older than I thought."

Naruto gave him a skeptical stare. _Pfft. Driftin' off 'cause of your age my ass, you dirty old man. Just wait til' ya see my improved Sexy Jutsu sets, then we'll see if it's just your old age distracting you so much._

"Anyway, I needed to speak to you about the events of last evening."

_Last evening? F—_ "Whattya mean by 'last night' exactly? What time is it?"

"Oh, about three in the afternoon."

_Three!_ "Three! Oh man, Iruka-sensei is gonna kill me!"

"Don't worr-"

"I mean I'm late a lot, but man!"

"Naruto, I'm trying to tell you that it-"

"I'm so dead!"

Giving up on grabbing his attention, the Hokage waited until Naruto finally had to take a breath before clearing his throat. Once he had the boy's attention, he continued.

"I've already spoken with Iruka. Don't worry, you've been excused." For a moment Naruto looked relieved, but then he was upset all over again.

"Aw man! I wasted an entire day of vacation in bed! What a rip off!"

"Naruto," The Hokage's tone turned serious. "All of this aside, we have some very important matters to discuss with you."

"Okay." He turned to Kakashi, as if just noticing him, and began pointing his finger at the man. "Hey, it's the masked pervert!"

"Naruto-kun," The boy looked to him. "It would be appropriate to address him as Captain Hatake, or if you must, Hatake-san." _Though "masked pervert" is also quite fitting,_ the Hokage thought with a hidden smile.

"Oh…Okay." Naruto turned back to the ANBU captain. "How you doing, Captain Masked Pervert-san?" As the Third Hokage laughed, he somehow felt he should've seen that coming. Respect had never been Naruto's strongest point. Still, he was quick to pull himself together. _We need to put a stop to this. I can't allow us to continue getting distracted._

"Naruto-kun, we need to stop playing games. There is a very serious matter to discuss about recent events."

Naruto frowned and sat up, crossing his arms. The Third was honestly surprised. He rarely saw Naruto being so serious about something. Anything, really.

"So what do you want, gramps?"

"What do you recall about last night? I need to know everything that you can remember about what occurred with Shisui and Itachi Uchiha."

"Oh…You mean the guy who was in here before? Nothing much. The other guy attacked him, then I just kind of blanked out…" He paused as if he were trying to think of something. "Nope, that's about it. Then I woke up here."

"You don't recall anything unusual? For example, a strange light, or some strange feelings? Anger, or perhaps a hunger of some kind?" Naruto glanced back and forth between Kakashi, who was leaning against the wall and looking towards the door, and the Hokage. After a few seconds, he decided that he might as well tell them that he knew about the fox. It'd certainly make trying to keep them from getting suspicious about the things he did a bit easier.

"Oh, ya mean Fuzzy-chan?" The Hokage's expression didn't change much, but Kakashi's head tilted towards him, clearly more interested than before.

"Pardon me, but who or what is this, ahem, _Fuzzy-chan_ that you speaking of?"

"Well, there's dogs, raccoons, I guess bears are probably kind of fuzzy, and there's als-"

"Naruto." The Third frowned slightly, obviously not pleased with Naruto's little joke.

"Okay, okay. Fuzzy-chan, y'know? The big fox thing that lives in my head. Or my gut really, if you think about it. That's where he said the seal is. Freaking hates it when I call him that, but he always calls me a rodent or a hairless monkey or things like that…"

"The big fox that…" The Hokage cut off, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose, trying to gather his thoughts. _The Kyuubi has contacted Naruto somehow. That can't be a good sign. Yet it doesn't seem to have influenced him. But he clearly used its chakra._

"Naruto-kun," He started again, unsure of precisely how to phrase his question. "What kind of contact do you have with this…Fuzzy-chan?"

"Not a lot. I mean, we talk now and then, but he mostly just says how he wants to eat me and stuff. He's a pretty funny old furball when he gets mad. Oh, and he said somethin' about letting me have his catchra when I was in trouble, but-"

"Chakra, actually." The Hokage corrected him absent-mindedly, reevaluating Naruto's situation. So the Kyuubi had actually allowed him to access its chakra because he was in danger? He wasn't as amazing with sealing as Minato had once been, but surely the seal must have had something to do with it. Based on their knowledge of the Kyuubi, it wouldn't simply do something to help another of its own free will. It must have viewed a threat to Naruto as a threat to its own life, or whatever it had that resembled a life after being sealed away.

"But you don't feel anything odd?" Kakashi spoke up for the first time, surprising Naruto. "No bloodlust? No anger? You don't want to attack anything?"

"Hm? Nah, nothing like that. . I mean one time I did go running after a big Tanuki all covered in sand and I've got this thing with snakes, but I think that's all more me than him. Why? Should I?"

"No, no." Kakashi reached into the pocket of his vest, pulling out a small book that Naruto would recognize anywhere by now. "You seem to be fine."

The Hokage had to agree. While he doubted the Danzo or any of the others would feel the same, Naruto did seem to be unaffected by the Kyuubi. Or, at the least, he showed no signs of being influenced any time in the near future. He would "suggest" that Danzo leave the boy alone for now.

"Very well, Naruto-kun. Perhaps you should get some more rest. Kakashi, if you would escort our young friend home?" Kakashi nodded, and gave a small bow of his head as the Third Hokage left the room, intent on having a word with his childhood rival about the Jinchuuriki...and the actions of Itachi Uchiha.

* * *

"This complicates things considerably." Fugaku Uchiha was speaking with the other leaders of the clan, pondering the impact of the recent events on their revolution. "We'll have to put our plans on hold."

"But Fugaku-sama, we've come so far!"

"And in a matter of hours, we've lost too much." Fugaku was getting tired of this discussion. Itachi clearly wasn't going to be helping them. It would seem their suspicions regarding his eldest son's true loyalties might have been truer than they had hoped. He closed his eyes, waiting for yet another objection.

"Fugaku-sama is right," Another of them spoke up. "We can't even let Shisui-san in on our plans now. You know how he adored the traitor, and he's always been one of the most loyal to Konoha. If we were to go to him now he probably won't believe anything we have to say."

"Indeed." Fugaku opened his eyes again, pleased that someone else understood. "Itachi has betrayed us. And without Shisui, we've lost two of our greatest warriors. To make matters worse, it is now quite clear that Danzo and the Hokage know of, or at least suspect, our intentions. Does anyone here truly believe that we can defeat them, as well as all of their supporters, with one of our greatest shinobi missing and when another might turn against us if we move too quickly?"

There were no objections this time.

"So it's agreed, then?" The man who'd supported Fugaku moments ago spoke up. "For the time being, we agree to listen to what the Hokage has to say, and begin building our strength again?"

"That is my decision."

As the remainder of the clan's leaders reluctantly agreed, Fugaku dismissed them, and prepared to return to Mikoto and Sasuke. They'd agreed to tell Sasuke together. Hopefully, he wouldn't take his brother's departure to severely. His hopes weren't high though, given their youngest son's adoration of their eldest.

But their plans weren't the only ones that required rethinking after that night.

"Well, this is a bit of a setback." Itachi nodded in agreement, watching over Konohagakure from a distance, glancing at the odd orange mask with the black markings. Madara seemed strangely calm considering the fact that his "traitorous" family wasn't being destroyed as he'd expected. Not to mention that his "partner" had been interrupted before he could perform the task that would've earned him the Mangekyo Sharingan, no doubt throwing a massive wrench into both of their plans.

"Oh well. You did a pretty good job, even if things didn't go quite according to plan. I think we can make this work."

Itachi's head tilted slightly, and Madara assumed this was curiosity. He was certain his descendant would be trying to figure out his intentions. Despite what the younger Uchiha seemed to think, his acting would never fool someone with Madara's experience. He knew the child was working in Konohagakure's best interests, and that despite making Madara promise to leave the village alone, the former Uchiha Clan Leader would make a strike against their former home eventually.

"Well, we know that the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki can access its chakra, whether it was intentional or not. And with the rest of the clan around to stir up trouble, Konoha's leadership will have more on its table to keep them busy. Besides, there are still certain…people…who would be very interested in having the Sharingan for themselves. I'm sure he could make things a little less stable. It is one of his favorite hobbies, after all."

He must've been talking about Orochimaru. Itachi had only been in very limited contact with the serpentine member of the Sannin, but his obsession with the Uchiha's special genetic trait was obvious to anyone with eyes or ears.

"Yes," Madara smiled behind the mask. "I think we can make this work very well."

* * *

AN: Hope you liked the rewrite, hope you'll like the rest of the rewrites, and when it comes out, I hope you'll enjoy the new chapter (Which should fit better after the rewrites).


	5. Late Arrival

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: Good to see y'all again. Thanks for all your reviews, and I hope you enjoy. On a side note, if you're interested, I do have a section up for this fic in my forums. Not a lot of activity lately, but I'll be updating it soon enough.

* * *

Three years. It had been three years since he'd come back through time. He had to say, he was disappointed with the lack of changes he'd been able to make. Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot _to_ change until he was older. He'd stopped the Uchiha massacre, but somehow, he had a bad feeling about what that might have caused. He couldn't explain it, but something just seemed…off. Sasuke was, well, to be honest he was the same with a tad bit more arrogance and a lot less anger. And he still wasn't that fond of Naruto, despite his best attempts to make friends with the dark-haired boy. He wasn't cruel of course, but he just didn't seem to care about what he did. No, he hadn't really paid any attention to Naruto before until they'd been put on the same team (And Naruto hadn't wanted him to at the time), but having the closest thing he'd ever had to a best friend look at him with nothing more than slight curiosity wasn't quite the greatest feeling he'd ever had.

On the other hand, while they weren't exactly friends, Sasuke seemed to acknowledge him much more than he had in Naruto's memories. Sure, he still had a tendency to sleep and not pay attention during class, but now it was more out of boredom than out of a lack of knowledge or skill. Iruka had been pleasantly surprised at Naruto's rather "advanced" skill for someone his age even though they hadn't really been given a chance to display much aside from the basics, and Sasuke seemed to be thrilled with the idea that there was someone else in their class who was "above the bar" so to speak. He was glad to know that whenever a chance came up in class, Sasuke was never one to reject him as a sparring partner. But still, he wanted _his_ rival back, not just _a_ rival.

He hadn't exactly increased in standing among the villagers either. But then, he was still up to the pranks he'd been so fond of in his own timeline, only now he could pull them off with more efficiency. To no one's surprise, this increase in skill for being an "obnoxious little brat" annoyed the villagers even more. He'd managed to befriend Sakura and Ino though, at least. They weren't technically allowed to spend time with him, but their parents simply couldn't watch their children all of the time, and Naruto was far more skilled at getting moments alone with them than his attitude and appearance would imply.

Of course, most of his relationships with those from before hadn't changed much. Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba had never really had a problem with him in the first place. Even before, they'd gladly spent time with him if he happened to be around. Choji was overly-friendly and sympathized with Naruto's huge appetite, Kiba had always liked to rebel against what his parents told him to do, and Shikamaru…Well, Shikamaru just found leaving whenever he happened to be around far too troublesome. Shino had always been freakishly quiet and reserved, and he'd probably be that way until the day they all died, so Naruto hadn't expected much from him. It was only once he really started paying attention that he realized Shino had never bothered to leave when his louder classmate was nearby, and none of his family had ever stopped him from "playing" (Which to Shino apparently consisted of standing around and watching) with the Jinchuuriki. Still, quiet or not it was who he was, and Naruto probably wouldn't have it any other way.

Hinata's relationship with him hadn't exactly changed much either. Sure, he spoke to her more often, and tried to include her in things sometimes. It wasn't that he didn't want to be friends with her or something like that. He just wasn't sure how to do it without being awkward. He'd learned not long before their final battle that the reason why she'd always been so "weird" (God, he felt like such an idiot, looking back on all those times) around him was because she'd actually had a crush on him. While she'd never actually come out and said it, he was pretty certain that it had reached an emotion far deeper and more complex than a mere crush. And he really, really sucked at those big emotional talks. The most emotional his discussions had ever gotten were his fights with Sasuke, and those usually involved him being so desperate and enraged that he couldn't remember much of what he'd said afterwards. Anyway, he wasn't going to just sit by and ignore her like the last time. He wasn't sure where they stood or where they would stand later, but she had still been among his closest friends and the one of the first to genuinely support him, and he wasn't going to treat her like anything less.

As for most of his older allies, such as Kakashi, he rarely saw them. It wasn't for lack of trying by any stretch. He had no trouble trying to track them down and harass them on occasion, but most of the adult shinobi were simply too busy. Going on missions and training Genin was a pretty full-time job, after all. He'd also become surprisingly fond of one Shisui Uchiha. As with most of his elders, Shisui didn't exactly have an exceptionally large amount of free time. But he had occasionally treated Naruto to a meal, or given him "pointers" when he caught him training (Even if most of those pointers were things that he was already well aware of, and generally just consisted of "correcting" mistakes that he'd made intentionally). Then again, even if he didn't really need the advice, the fact was that he'd managed to make a friend out of the older boy. And more friends was never a drawback as far as he was concerned.

On another unpleasant note, he'd apparently been wrong about Gaara coming back as well. He'd attempted to write the boy a letter not too long after he'd stopped Itachi, and had never received a response. He supposed that it might have been due to one of the messengers losing the letter (The messenger birds weren't always perfect, no matter how flawless they seemed at times), or that it might have been unwilling to pass it through the hands of humans who may have reported it to the Hokage or Kazekage , but he doubted it. Even if he usually didn't leave much of an indication that he was the one writing it, problems could still occur. Besides, he wasn't exactly experienced with using more normal animals to deliver things. He'd almost always relied on the toads for that kind of work before and summoning a toad wasn't a good idea now for several obvious reasons. As for Ino, well, she hadn't given any signs of being dragged back either, so the only real conclusion he'd been able to reach was that it must have been his imagination. Who knew what kind of crazy stuff a person felt and saw as they were dying and being sent back through time? There wasn't much of a precedent for these things.

Deciding not to ponder the events that had occurred over the last couple of years any further, Naruto directed his attention to Iruka, before leaning back in his chair. With a quiet sigh, he leaned back and let out a loud groan.

"Soooo…boooorrred."

Sasuke, seated on Sakura's other side, was compelled to silently agree with the blond boy. When they'd been younger, he'd firmly believed that the loudmouth was nothing but a prank-pulling loser and idiot, but Naruto had surprised him when he'd actually been pretty decent at their Taijutsu "lessons," if one could call them that. He'd long since learned most of what they'd taught their class so far in the academy. He was at the very top of the class (as if any self-respecting Uchiha would do less), and they'd even considered allowing him to advance further, though apparently he hadn't been quite _that_ good. He had his suspicions that it was more due to what had happened the last time someone in his immediate family had advanced and graduated near his age, but he didn't really have any actual evidence that this was the case.

Sakura, on the other hand, didn't agree with Naruto's exclamation. In fact, she was fascinated with just about everything Iruka told them. She knew that she wasn't as good as Naruto or Sasuke, they were at the top of the class when it came to the physical aspects of training, but knowledge and technique were her specialty. Letting out her own sigh, she thumped Naruto on the nose, and watched with amusement as he nearly fell backwards out of his chair. _He's just so adorably oblivious._

"Naruto-kun, shush. I'm trying to hear what Iruka-sensei is saying."

"But Sakura-chan…I'm bored." Endearing as his lack of awareness might have been, his whining was very much the opposite.

"You should listen to her, idiot."

Sakura's face reddened slightly at his support. A few years back, before she and Ino had gone crazy for Sasuke, she might have said something about him calling Naruto things like idiot or loser. After their crushes on him had first developed, she'd been too focused on Sasuke to really take note of it. But by now she'd realized that more often than not, it was a term of endearment rather than an actual insult. A sort of special title for his only real competition for the top spot. Not that either of the stubborn, bullheaded, ego-driven _boys_ would actually admit it.

"Thanks Sasuke-kun."

Naruto stuck his tongue out the duo, before folding his arms on the desk and resting his chin on them, staring at the board Iruka was writing on with a disinterested gaze. They were learning actual jutsu more and more often these days, though they still focused primarily on concepts, and Naruto was eagerly waiting for the time to come when they'd be able to really cut loose in training. Of course there were a few things that he would have to hold back on, since using the Rasengan would probably attract a tiny, itsy-bitsy, minuscule amount of suspicion, but at least he'd finally be able to have some fun in the classes instead of half-heartedly going through the motions.

An hour later, when they were finally released for the rest of the day, Naruto resisted the urge to run out of the room as fast as possible, and waited for Sakura to finish putting up the notes she always took. He'd always liked that whole smart and studious thing she'd had going on. Even if he didn't actually understand everything she'd told him about when she explained those things to him. Or when he wasn't paying attention to what she was telling him, and just plain listening so he could spend time with her.

"So, you guys wanna get something to eat?"

Sasuke scoffed, and began to walk away. "I need to get some real training in before the day is up. This place is hurting my progress more than it helps."

"Sorry Naruto-kun, but I promised my mom I'd help around the shop today."

_That's right, they do own one of those little antique stores or something, don't they?_ "Awww. Guess I've gotta find someone other than my favorite girl and my favorite girl who doesn't wanna admit she's a girl to go to lunch with." he looked pointedly at Sasuke, who was just barely through the door as he said it, though he was apparently still close enough to send a one-fingered salute back at his classmate.

Sakura tried to cover her quick laugh with a cough, and took on an admonishing tone. "Naruto, you shouldn't make fun of him like that."

"What? It's not my fault. Maybe if he didn't spend so much time trying to look like such a pretty-boy, I wouldn't call him a girl. Honestly, how many guys out there are really more girly than him?" _Besides Haku. And Itachi. And sometimes Sai. And a couple of those other guys from the Akatsuki. And then I guess Orochimaru was using a girl's body for a while, so he was pretty girly. There was also…huh. I never really noticed how many girly guys I knew before. Weird._

"I think you're just jealous because all of us girls love him so much."

"And what's up with that? Seriously, you're all head over heels for a guy as girly as you are. Maybe even more girly. It just doesn't make sense."

She finished packing with another laugh, and patted him on the shoulder as she headed for the door.

"You're so hopeless. I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun."

"See ya later, Sakura-chan." _Man, I need food._ He rushed out of the building, and spotted Ino not too far away. _Maybe she'll be free._

"Hey Ino-chan!" She paused as he caught up to her, giving him an amused smile as he hopped from foot to foot. "Wanna get some ramen?"

"Ew, gross. No way! Do you have any idea how much that'd throw off my diet?"

_Dammit, what's with these girls and those stupid diets! They're not anywhere close to being fat!_ "Oh c'mon, ramen is the perfect food? So many flavors, and so cheap, and-"

"Not happening, Naruto."

"Oh, fine. Have it your way." He let out an over-dramatic sigh. "I guess I'll have to eat lunch all alone. It's fine, it's fine. I know that nobody loves me."She rolled her eyes at that.

"Oh, stop being so melodramatic. If it'll get you off my back, I'll have a bowl with you tomorrow." She held up on finger. "One bowl. But I really do have something I've gotta do today. Sorry."

"Okay, if you say so. I'll hold ya to it, Flower Girl."

After they parted ways, he wandered around for a few minutes before deciding to just go have some cup ramen at his apartment. His favorite frog wallet, or "Gama-chan" as he so liked to call it, was a bit too empty for his tastes. The last time he'd been so low on cash was when Jiraiya…Anyway, he had plenty of food in his kitchen. Plus, he could use some meditation time. He despised meditation, but Fukasaku had insisted that it was necessary for properly mastering Sage Arts, and the old toads knew what they were talking about.

_Well, better get to it!_

* * *

**Sunagakure…**

Gaara of the Desert clutched his chest, breaths harsh in coming as he stood from his kneeling position, thousands of thoughts racing through his mind at once. He'd been sitting in his room silently awaiting the Kazekage's orders, when he'd nearly passed out from a combination of shock and pain unlike any he'd felt before.

Now, as he tried to understand what was happening, memories of the last sixteen years were flashing in his head. He knew he was a child. It was impossible not to notice how incredibly small his body was in comparison to the last time he'd seen his reflection. But then how did he have memories of something that hadn't happened? He didn't sleep, so he knew it couldn't be some kind of dream. A hallucination maybe? But despite the evidence all around him, he was certain that the memories weren't false. He tried to calm himself, shifting through his thoughts at a calmer pace, and searched for the most recent of his "elder" memories. His eyes widened slightly as he recalled what had happened.

_I was kneeling next to Naruto, and we'd been fighting those men from the Akatsuki. I was…I was watching to make sure nothing came any closer to Naruto's body, and…what? I felt some kind of jolt, and there was a sort of orange or red light, then I was here. Here? But where is "here?" It's my room, or it's what used to be my room. And I was waiting for the Kazekage…But how was I waiting for the Kazekage if I was just beside Naruto, after the Kazekage was long dead?_

And a thought passed through his mind, almost unbelievable, but still somehow feasible given what he was looking at with his own two eyes. It was just about the only explanation he could come up with as to how he suddenly found himself years younger, and in such a bizarre mental state.

_The past? How?_ He recalled the strange light again, connecting it with a chakra he'd once seen. _Naruto…No, not Naruto. The Kyuubi. Did the Kyuubi do something?_ And something even more important crossed his mind. _Naruto! If the Kyuubi did something, where is Naruto? Could he still be alive?_

Before he could consider the possibilities further, his door cracked open, and his sister peered in the door slowly, moving as if she were actually afraid of something. But then, if he really was in the past, he'd been quite the monster at this age. Her fear would be quite understandable if that was the case.

"Gaara? The Kazekage has a mission for you." She began to pull back and shut the door, not wanting to do anything that might annoy her somewhat psychotic younger brother, when the boy's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Temari." She turned back to him, trying not to look as worried as she really was.

"Thank you." Her eyes widened in shock. Gaara had never thanked her. He'd never thanked anyone, actually. Most of what he said, if he even said anything at all, was to insult, reprimand, or threaten people. To put it lightly, she was utterly baffled at this unexpected action. But not quite baffled enough to ignore it, and possibly send him into one of his moods.

"Y-you're welcome, Gaara." As he heard her footsteps moving down the hall, and eventually fading, he began to examine his room, hoping for some kind of clues as to exactly what day it was, or if anything was out of the usual. He doubted it would be difficult to find if there was something. Even after Naruto's intervention in his life, he'd never been a fan of things that were grand and flashy. His room barely had anything non-essential. A small bed, a small dresser for the few things he actually had an interest in owning, a calendar that he had no need for, as he had nothing that was worth remembering.

The calendar would be useless. He'd never even touched the thing, so it wouldn't be on the correct month anyway, and if it wasn't even on the right month, he doubted there would be anything indicating the day. Still, he flipped through it for the sake of being thorough, and noticed something early on. In small, slightly sloppy writing, were the words "got a letter." He'd never written that before, at least not in any memories that he could recall…None of his original memories, anyway.

Not willing to take the time to dig through his mind for the event, he began searching through the dresser, pulling out clothes, blankets, and anything else he could find. As he did, a small, folded, rather plain piece of paper fell out. Checking the hall to make sure no one was nearby, he shut the door and unfolded the letter carefully, finding himself relieved when he discovered that it was what he was looking for. His eyes skimmed over the page, taking in the short message.

"_I don't know if you know me, but this is Naruto. If you know what I'm talking about, you'll know where to send anything you have to say. If not then I guess I'm screwed, and this whole thing was just me going crazy. I hope I'm right. Right. I guess I'll just say bye then, Gaara."_

Gaara couldn't help but smile at the blonde's note, though the expression faded when he realized that it had probably come quite some time before. If Naruto had "woken up" at the same time he had, then it would have been completely impossible for him to send this message so quickly, and he definitely wouldn't have shoved it in a dresser. The only thing he could think of was that, since he was simply near Naruto and not Naruto himself, he must not have been thrown back as far in time.

…Back in time. It was so strange to say, but he was almost certain that, unless he'd simply gone insane, that was what had happened. He folded the paper, and replaced everything in his dresser. He would report to the Kazekage, as was expected of him, but as soon as he was finished with whatever mission awaited him, he would have to make an attempt at getting word to Naruto.

* * *

AN: Well, there ya go :) As I seem to say a lot, sorry for how long it took. But since the last one was like three or four months, IIRC, I'd say this is a bit of an improvement. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed.


	6. Catching Up

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: Chapter Six Rewrite is up. So yeah.

* * *

Naruto sat in a meditative pose, eyes closed, body relaxed and still. The world seemed to fade away as he began to feel the connection with nature, its power just at his fingertips. And then the accursed furball had to chime in with its opinion.

_**"So I take it you didn't get to do whatever it was you were trying to do that you obviously failed to do because you're not doing it."**_

Naruto sighed and gave the Kyuubi a sort-of-annoyed stare. The Kyuubi had been acting strange over the last few years. Maybe it was just because he'd never gone and spoken with it unless he needed some chakra before, or maybe it was just cheerful about having finally regained a fair bit of the chakra it'd used to send them back, but the giant fox had been unusually chatty over the last few years. "Since when were you ever interested in my life?"

_**"What else do I have to do? Honestly, I don't have that many other options for entertainment. You think your head is a thrilling place to spend hundreds of days each year? In countless millennia, never have I been so lacking in activity that I would actually enjoy watching mold spread across your useless skull-cage."**_

"And ya just happened to feel like talking as soon as I started trying to meditate, right?"

_**"A coincidence I assure you. It's inconceivable that I would **_**ever**_** want to interrupt you when you're busy with the trivial hairless ape nonsense that you little cretins get up to when you need to waste your absurdly short lives."**_

"Jackass."

_**"Insect."**_

"Seriously though, shut it. I need to do this whole meditation thing if I want to get stronger, and unless you want to go and send us back in time _again_ because we died _again_ because you interrupted me _again_, then you'll stop bothering me."

_**"Would it not be considerably easier to just rely on my power?"**_

"The last time 'I just relied on your power,' I got blown in half and sent back in time. Not to mention all the times you've tried to break out while I was using your chakra." It didn't' seem to pay any attention to that last part.

_**"Ah yes, the Uchiha. I look forward to the day we finally meet again. We have…words…to exchange."**_

"You shouldn't. Last time, that freakish eye of his made you damn near useless."

_**"I suppose it would present a rather significant advantage for one such as him. Perhaps less so if I had any idea what happened that day."**_ Yet another annoying problem. Despite having been the one to send them back in time, even the Kyuubi didn't seem to remember anything. Or at least it didn't remember anything too important. It often claimed to remember feelings or thoughts, but nothing especially solid.

_**"And besides, if this **_**toad**_** training is supposed to make you so powerful, why did it not help last time?"**_

"I, uh…I kinda didn't finish my training." That had definitely been one of the more idiotic decisions in his life. He'd only just mastered gathering the energy and learned that he couldn't even use it for more than a few minutes if he was moving when everything went to hell and he'd skipped out on the rest of his training to jump back into the fray.

_**"I see. And who was it that taught you these skills?"**_

_Man, why's he so curious all of a sudden?_ "I learned from Fukasaku. He's one of the-"

_**"Toad Sages. Yes, I know of them. They're nothing compared to we tailed beasts, but they are rather impressive for lesser creatures. If nothing else, they're certainly more of a thrill to crush beneath one's feet than humans."**_

"Oh, and who was it that sealed you away again? Oh yeah, I remember. It was us 'weak, worthless little insects' that locked you up."

"_**Insolent little kit. Though I will admit some of you aren't completely useless trash. Your Fourth Hokage was as stubborn as you, and there was one clan in particular that had a talent for causing me no end of frustration."**_ Naruto chuckled. No doubt the Kyuubi was still sore about the manipulations of the Sharingan wielders that had once used it as little more than a puppet.

"Aw shucks. You're not half bad either, Fuzzy-chan. Now quiet down. I've got meditating to do."

_**"Fine. If it will keep you from getting us killed again, then I shall leave you to your…this. Brat."**_

"And lay off the Uchiha insults, would ya?"

Hoping that the Kyuubi would do as he said, Naruto closed his eyes again, and returned to his meditative state, returning to his attempt to connect with the natural energy around him.

_**"I simply don't understand how you can tolerate that boy."**_

"Just shut up already!"

* * *

**Uchiha Compound**

"I don't know how you can stand that boy."

Ignoring his mother's complaints about Naruto, Sasuke rolled to the left as her fist slammed into the ground where his head had just been, cracking the hardwood floor. Slipping a kunai from his leg holster, he flung it towards her and flipped to his feet. As Mikoto leaned back to dodge it her hand shot out, catching the tip of the blade between her fingers. Sasuke had barely gotten his bearings back when his kunai came to stop at his neck, and he raised his hands in defeat. He knew well enough that at this stage he wasn't going to be able to recover from this position to defeat someone like Mikoto or Fugaku, and since he happened to be sparring with one of them he had no intention of trying.

"For an idiot, he's not that bad. He's loud, obnoxious, and he never shuts up, but I don't get why you hate him so much." She ignored him and held out his kunai, paying no attention to the frown he gave her as he plucked it from her fingers and tossed it in the air a few times before sliding it back into the holster.

"Your father should be back soon. He'll want to go over a new jutsu with you."

"You're not telling me something."

"We've already discussed this, Sasuke-kun." She let out a sigh, both of them knowing where the conversation would end. He had never really stopped hounding them about their attitudes towards the boy, and it had gotten even worse after Itachi had left. The only thing that gave them any comfort in the matter was that Sasuke didn't know any of the true details regarding Itachi's betrayal, only that he had attacked their cousin and left.

"Several times. And you still won't tell me. Why do so many people hate him?"

"You know how he acts. The rudeness, the constant pranks, the-"

"There are plenty of people as rude as him, and his pranks are mostly harmless. Hell, aren't most shinobi parents usually _happy_ if their kids manage to get away with that kind of harmless stuff? There's got to be more to it than that."

"Just stop. Some things are better left unsaid, and this is one of them."

"Fine. I'm going to go find Father." _But I will figure it out sooner or later. I don't like being lied to and all of you have been doing it for years._ Leaving the training room, he prepared to go to the outdoor training grounds of the Uchiha compound more fit for Ninjutsu training than the indoor practice facilities, still pondering the reasons why one Uzumaki Naruto was so highly disliked among the residents of Konoha. He hadn't noticed when they were just children, but around four years earlier he'd started realizing that his classmate seemed to get an excessive amount of anger thrown his way, far more than his simple and childish jokes should have brought on him. What bothered him the most was that his parents, who he'd never noticed giving any real attention to the boy, had suddenly started treating him nearly the same as the rest of the villagers not long after Itachi had attacked their cousin.

There had to be a connection. It was just a matter of uncovering it…

* * *

**Sunagakure**

Something about her little brother was…different. Kankuro said that it was probably just the usual lust for blood kicking in at a convenient moment, but she couldn't force herself to believe it. It was just too wrong, somehow, to have only been his typical urge to slaughter.

It had just been a standard C-Rank mission for the trio. They were assigned to eliminate a small group of criminals holed up in a cave a few miles from the village that had been harassing the local traders. What they hadn't known was that several former shinobi had taken up residence in the caves as well, and seemed to specialize in using weapons laced with various types of venoms and poisons. To make it worse, their targets had been warned that they were coming and were more than prepared. Still, even with the unexpected additions to the enemy's forces and the ambush, it wouldn't have normally been anything they couldn't handle.

And then she'd nearly been hit from behind with a shuriken—_had_ been hit by a shuriken—though it barely managed to scrape her cheek. It was pure luck that it hadn't been among the poisoned ones. She had easily been able to dodge the brunt of the attack even as distracted as she was with her own opponents. Luck or no, Gaara had made sure that it wasn't necessary to do so again. Before she'd even had the chance to attempt a counterattack, the sand he controlled with such ease had ripped the small weapon from the air and driven it into the forehead of the man who'd thrown it. After that, there was no other way to describe what had occurred next as anything but a slaughter. She and Kankuro had stood off to the side as Gaara proceeded to thoroughly butcher their opponents, slinging them into walls, impaling them on stalagmites, crushing them to death with his sand…Normally she would stand back and ignore it. It wasn't as if his little _tantrums_ were uncommon, after all, and the best solution was to just get out of the way as fast as possible.

What made her think twice was _when_ he'd stepped in. When their team first arrived he'd simply sat off in the shadows and watched as they fought with their enemies, only bothering to get involved when he'd been attacked directly. It was only after someone targeted her with an attack that successfully managed to scrape through her defenses, even just barely, that he'd become truly engaged in the conflict. Then there was that little out of character "thank you" earlier the previous morning, which she still couldn't figure out. He'd never thanked anyone, much less for simply delivering the Kazekage's orders.

No, she was certain that they were missing something. Kankuro probably noticed it as well, no matter what he might have said on the matter. Of course, they weren't insane enough to bring it up in front of their brother. Perhaps he really had suddenly been afflicted with some unexplainable urge to defend his siblings for once instead of watching impassively as they risked their lives. But they weren't about to tempt his wrath by questioning his actions.

As Gaara gave them a curt nod and began walking towards his room, glancing over the small trail of blood running from the cut on her cheek, she knew she was right. Something very unusual was going on with their little brother. Ignoring Kankuro's worried glance, she waited until Gaara had been out of sight for a few minutes before making a decision. Ignoring the slight burning sensation around her wound, she slowly made her way to his room. Her hand was nearly to the door when she hesitated, knowing that Gaara wasn't exactly happy when people failed to announce their presence. She turned the knob and cracked open the door, knocking lightly as she quietly called his name.

"Gaara?" She pushed it open further, and poked her head into the room. She could see him sitting down, and…writing? What would Gaara be writing? Raising her voice a little, she spoke again.

"Gaara? It's, um…It's Temari." She stepped into the room when he failed to answer and moved a little closer. Then again, considering how small his room was, "a little closer" was essentially putting her within no more than a few of feet of the easily aggravated Jinchuuriki. She moved forward until she was just barely at reaching distance, and leaned forward, stretching her hand toward him. She didn't exactly want to touch the younger boy, what with his tendency to slaughter anything that startled or annoyed him, but she couldn't deny that she was worried about her brother's odd behavior. Or maybe she was just worried that this strange attitude would lead to her or Kankuro being hurt, and she wanted to make sure he was still his _normal_ self. And she definitely wanted to figure it out before Kankuro went and blurted out something stupid, as he was often prone to do.

She promptly drew her hand away and leaped back as the boy in front of her began to fall apart into a pile of sand, eyes widening when she bumped into something behind her. Something that spoke in a small, yet frighteningly dark voice that both her and her brother had always felt an indescribable urge to hide from.

"Did you want something?" She whirled around, cursing herself for the quick movement even as she did so, and trying desperately to stop the hammering in her heart as she realized that Gaara wasn't snapping at the sudden motion.

"G-Gaara! I just-I mean, I wanted to see if you were, uh…alright? After the mission, and all…" She trailed off before she could finish. As if Gaara was ever anything but healthy after a mission. It was a pathetic excuse, and she knew very well that it wouldn't fool her youngest brother for a second unless he was very, very distracted for some reason.

"…I'm fine." He reached toward her, and for a moment she thought he was going to make sure that she was as far from fine as she could possibly become. That same simple gesture of raising his hand had ended with more than a few mangled bodies, crushed beneath a coffin of sand. The panic began to set in…at least until his finger glided across her cheek, wiping across the small wound with uncharacteristic gentleness. "You should probably clean that. Go to the medical center. Could be poisoned too."

She felt herself being lightly pushed from the room, and turned to see the sand that they'd come to fear pulling back from her as she crossed through the threshold.

"I need some privacy."

And with that, the door was closed, and she was left wondering how she'd managed to survive entering what Gaara considered his territory, actually touching him, and having the closest thing to a conversation with him that she'd had with her youngest brother in her entire life. She'd been standing outside his door lost in her thoughts for nearly ten minutes before she finally dragged herself away and head for the medical center as per Gaara's advice, deciding not to tell Kankuro about the little incident. Knowing him he'd try to do something stupid to see if he could bond with Gaara and end up ticking him off. With or without his strange new attitude, she wasn't willing to bet that an angry Gaara would be any more pleasant to deal with than before.

Gaara, however, continued about his business. He knew very well that she was still outside his door, but the odds of his siblings coming back into his room or office when he wanted to be alone were low even when they'd had a better relationship. Now that he was back at a point in time when they were terrified to even look at him wrong, the odds were practically nonexistent.

He wrote down a few words on a small piece of paper, and molded his sand to resemble a bird. He definitely wasn't going to trust any of the human messengers in the village, nor would he trust any other form of communication that the Kazekage might be capable of tracking. He'd rarely ever used the sand to move anything a great distance, but the situation called for it. Until the Kazekage's death he'd never had any reason to send anything. After the Kazekage's death, he had no need to concern himself with others prying into his business, since they either respected him or were too terrified of Shukaku to defy his requests. Besides, with the demon present in his mind again, he would really have little else to do with his nights. Rolling up the note, he placed it in a small opening in the imitation bird and sealed it. Things would probably be better if it didn't look like anything was being delivered at all.

_Naruto Uzumaki. It seems you've given us another chance. Let's hope we can make use of it._

* * *

**The Next Day, Konoha…**

"Well class is almost over, but I have good news. Today, we'll begin working on the basic Clone Technique. Now, first we'll review the concept behind the jutsu. The Clone Technique utilizes non-physical copies of those who use it for the sake of distraction and evasion." Iruka formed the Ram hand seal. "To do this, you begin with the Ram, which…"

Naruto's head hit the desk with a thud as he tuned out Iruka's voice, and cursed whoever had invented the technique. He never had gotten around to learning how to use the standard clones. He'd always figured it was pointless since he could create solid copies that could actually fight instead of just distract. In retrospect, he supposed that he probably should have tried to figure it out when he came back in time, with it being one of the jutsu that his class was expected to know every time the exam came around.

"What are you so upset for, Loser? It's not a hard technique. I've already been able to do it for a year now. You should be able to figure it out eventually."

"It's okay Naruto-kun. Most of us are pretty new to this, and you did pretty well on the other stuff Iruka-sensei taught us." Sakura gave him a pat on the shoulder, trying to comfort the blond as he glared at a smirking Sasuke, and trying to hide her reaction to Sasuke's claim. Which of course matched the thoughts of every other girl nearby that happened to hear what he'd said.

_Sasuke is so cooool!_

"Now, would anyone like to give it a try?" At the ensuing silence, Iruka sighed and turned towards their desk. "Sasuke?"

"Fine." _Why do I always have to do these stupid demonstrations? It's such a waste of time._ He made his way to the front of the room, and stood in front of Iruka with a scowl. He lazily went through the signs, clearly bored, and one of the intangible clones appeared to his right and left, perfect imitations of the original. Naturally, this led to cheering from the girls in the class, and a combination of grumbling, congratulations, and silence from the various boys in the class.

"Very impressive, Sasuke. You can go back to your seat." Sasuke released the illusions and returned to the desk, clasping his hands in front of him and staring off into space with a bored expression, easily ignoring the looks he was receiving from almost every girl in class.

"Wow Sasuke-kun," Sakura leaned towards him with a blush. "That was so cool."

"Wow Sasuke-kun," Naruto raised his voice, trying to imitate what he liked to call Sakura's "lovey dovey" voice. "That was soooo cooool. I know you're a stuck-up, arrogant jackass, but I'd love it if you'd give me a private lesion on how to-" He was cut off as his he was pushed from his chair, and gulped as he saw the enraged pink-haired girl glaring at him.

"Naruto, you little…!"

"Excuse me, but is there a problem?" Iruka's voice called from the front of the class.

"Oh, no Iruka-sensei! Everything's great!" And glad as he was that Iurka had spoken up before she'd managed to pummel him into the ground again, the blatantly-fake grin that Sakura was forcing made it quite clear that he was going to be in major trouble later. Not that she'd ever actually hurt him even before his little time trip, but frankly, she could be downright terrifying at times. Naruto took a glance over at Sasuke and frowned.

_And that smug little bastard loves it._

"If there's no problem, then I think we're done here today. Remember to practice the Clone Technique tonight, and I'll see you all tomorrow." As Iruka left the room, Naruto felt a sense of impending doom.

_Oh boy._ "…H-hey, Sakura-chan. What's up?"

"Naruto-kun." She said in a voice that was far too sweet. "A word, if you please. Alone."

"Um, y'know, I'm not sure if that's-"

"Oh come on, Sakura." Ino walked up beside him, grabbing his arm. "He's treating me to lunch. If you're gonna kill him, at least wait until he's paid for it."

"Oh, okay. But don't take too long. We were meeting at your place, right?"

"Yeah. I'll see you in a little while." Waving goodbye, Ino dragged him from the room in a hurry.

"Thanks, Ino. I think. So, ramen then?"

"Yes, we can go have ramen." Her grip on his arm tightened, almost cutting off his circulation in the limb. "And let's try to avoid making fun of Sasuke-kun in the future, hm?"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" With that, it was suddenly Naruto who was doing the dragging. And with Naruto on the path to ramen, the run barely took any time at all. Within minutes, they were sitting on the stools at the counter of Ichiraku Ramen, with a clearly-pleased Teuchi standing behind the counter to greet his favorite customer.

"Hey, Naruto! And the junior Yamanaka, it's good to see you. How's your mother been lately? Had a little bug last time I saw her."

"She's been much better lately, Teuchi-san."

"So, you two gonna have the usual?" Sure, maybe _usual_ wasn't the best word to use in Ino's case since she wasn't there that often, but Naruto most definitely had a usual. And that usual was generally expensive enough so that he'd be able to close down for the rest of the day if he felt like it. Especially given that Naruto's portion of said dish was about three times bigger than the normal version everyone else usually stuck with.

"Heck yeah, old man!"

"That sounds fine."

"Oh c'mon Ino-chan, you've gotta eat more than that. It's not like the stuff's bad, y'know." Teuchi set a few bowls in front of them with a grin, apparently having already expected Naruto to show up. And since he had a tendency to get one of everything, it wasn't too hard to get Ino's prepared. The two ate in relative silence for a few minutes, before Ino decided to continue the conversation.

"It's not that it's bad. Heck, it's excellent. But it's just got so much sodium and fat that it's not good for my diet."

"Oh please. You girls make no sense. It's always 'diet this' and 'diet that.' I'm surprised you haven't all starved to death by now. I mean it's-"

"Actually," Teuchi cut into the conversation. "I'm working on a recipe that really cuts down on fats and sodium and that kind of thing. Figured it might help broaden my customer range, y'know?"

Both of the blondes seemed to brighten up at this, and Teuchi smiled. He was glad that the kid had made some friends over the years, but most of the few girls he seemed to spend time with were obsessed with their figures, and while it was delicious, he knew most ramen wasn't exactly famous for being the pinnacle of health food. Now, if Naruto had a few more friends like that Choji fellow, Teuchi was pretty sure he and his daughter would be set for life. Uzumaki Naruto and Akimichi Choji…that was a duo that could empty the whole stand in a single sitting.

"Really? That sounds great! Because I'd really like to have it more oft-" Ino glanced over as she noticed the squinty-eyed grin that had appeared on Naruto's face. "What? What's with the freaky look?"

"You love ramen."

"It's not my favorite, but it's definitely good."

"You're a ramaniac."

"A what now?"

"I've converted another one! Soon the whole world will know the greatness that is ramen!" He almost seemed to speak to the bowl in front of him.

"Soon, my precious little friend, soon!" Naruto rubbed his hands together with a semi-maniacal cackle, and the unfading grin that she and Sakura had dubbed his "fox grin."

And promptly found himself face-first in his bowl of ramen, as Ino glared at him.

"You can be so creepy, Naruto. Ramen is good and all, but you take it to a whole new level." Naruto just grinned at her again, slurping up a stray noodle that'd attached itself to his face.

"You know you guys love me."

"Hell if I can figure out why." She set her finished bowl down and stood, bowing politely to Teuchi. "Thank you very much, it was delicious."

Smiling, she turned to Naruto. "Thanks for the lunch Naruto, but I have to go. Sakura and I were going to go-"

"Stalk the pretty-boy to see if you can catch 'em alone in a closet somewhere?"

"W-what! Of course not!" _Maybe a little._ She lightly smacked him in the back of the head with a blush. "I was just going to help her arrange some flowers for her mother's birthday! Get your mind out of the gutter, you little pervert!"

"Well, if ya gotta go, then you've gotta go. Later Ino-chan." She gave him a small smile and ruffled his hair playfully.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

Just minutes after she'd left, as Naruto was getting into yet another bowl, he jumped in surprise when a small sandy-brown bird landed on the counter. He was far more surprised when the bird burst into sand, revealing a small note amongst the remains, and Teuchi looked over at him in curiosity.

"Hm? What's that? Looks like a letter." Teuchi grinned prodded his arm with a spoon. "Got yourself a girlfriend, kid?"

"Wha? No, no. Nothin' like that. Sorry old man, but I gotta go. Mind if I pay ya back tomorrow?"

"Nah, go on." He shook his head with a laugh as Naruto took off. He didn't know what the letter was about, but it must've been important to the kid for him to take off like he did. Plus, Naruto was his favorite customer. He was always good for his word when it came to money, even if it took him a little while to actually make the payment.

After rushing back to his apartment, Naruto unfolded the small note, and began reading it to himself.

"_I remember everything, Uzumaki Naruto. But we should limit our communication. It is…good…to hear from you again. Gaara."_

Okay, so maybe he didn't actually write the pauses, but Naruto had known the man for long enough to realize that he'd probably be uncomfortable with the whole "expressing himself" thing. Unable to hold back a grin, Naruto let out a quick cheer, glad to know that Gaara had apparently remembered their past, or future, or whatever they wanted to call it.

_Remembering the future. Man, it still feels weird to say that._ He folded the letter and placed it in his left pocket, already trying to figure out what he could do now that he wasn't completely alone in this little adventure in the past.

* * *

AN: Nothing new to add since yesterday's rewrite was posted. Hope you enjoyed.


	7. Request

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: Here goes the chapter seven rewrite.

* * *

**One month later...**

"Another bowl please!"

A glare, some slurping, and…

"Bowl please!"

Slurp.

"Bowl!"

Slurp.

"Bowl!"

"Bowl!"

"Bowl!"

"That's disgusting." Sakura scowled at Naruto and Choji as they raced to put down as much ramen as physically possible in a five minute time span. Ino nodded in response, matching the scowl. In the meantime, Kiba was cheering on Choji, while Shino and Shikamaru watched the show silently and Hinata quietly encouraged Naruto. They were all there for more or less the same reason, after all.

The first time that Naruto and Choji had decided to have one of these little "competitions", the older man running the ramen stand and his daughter had been frantic trying to keep up the supply of ramen for the ravenous duo. As a result, they had stated in no uncertain terms that they wanted a little warning the next time the two black holes decided to compete in their shop. But more importantly, Kiba had noticed the spectacle as he passed by, and in a display of cleverness that was rather unusual for him, had subtly started making bets over which of the two would win. Naturally, he felt compelled to bring the rest of the class into the game.

Ino and Sakura personally had no interest in watching the duo gorging, but Sasuke was there to make some extra money while his schedule was empty and if they were going to be following him they figured that they might as well place a bet or two and try to do the same. Shino simply seemed curious as to what his classmates did with their free moments, as he rarely spent time with them outside of the academy, and Shikamaru figured it was an easy way to get paid without having to actually put any effort in to it. Being a genius probably didn't hurt his odds. As for Hinata, she had yet to even place a bet, instead arriving for the sake of spending time with her crush and because it was easier to feel like she was part of the group in these little outings, as compared to when they were in the classroom.

And so there they sat once again, staring at the display with a sort of morbid fascination as the two bottomless pits guzzled and slurped, gulped and burped, then asked for another round. As the two simultaneously reached for another bowl, a dark-haired man dashed into the stand, nearly toppling over Kiba in the process.

"Am I late! Is it over already!" Kiba smirked at him, holding out a hand.

"Nope. Just two minutes in. You betting the usual?"

"Heck yeah!" Shisui Uchiha dropped a few coins into the younger boy's hand, and began cheering Choji on alongside the Inuzuka that he had unofficially dubbed as his gambling rival. Shisui's appearance was more due to a combination of loving Teuchi's cooking and enjoying the "sport" than actually wanting to make any money. After all, Jonin were paid pretty well and he was one of the most skilled members of one of the most prestigious clans in Konoha—the world even—so it wasn't as though he were poor.

Besides, Mikoto had practically ordered him to keep an eye on Sasuke when he was spending any amount of time with the "demon boy" as quite a few of the villagers seemed intent on calling him. Though honestly, he had the feeling that Mikoto held more resentment towards Naruto for being involved in Itachi's departure than just because of his connection to the Kyuubi.

Or, if he felt like being a little more objective, she was unnerved by his involvement. They'd had their fair share of arguments on the matter, and it was easy to see that she found it frightening to think that the Kyuubi might be able to influence or control its Jinchuuriki. An understandable concern really, considering the seemingly random nature of the outburst. But there was something he couldn't quite pinpoint about her actions, something she was hiding from him about her feelings on the excitable vessel of the Kyuubi.

But now wasn't the time for that. Now was the time for the sport of gods. Ramen-off.

Three minutes later, and Naruto dropped backwards off of the stool, while Choji's head hit the bar, both letting out a groan in the process. Ayame, who had been fighting to keep count of the number of bowls that they'd gone through, grinned and raised one of Naruto's arms into the air (albeit with some effort, given that he didn't really want to get up off of the ground), gesturing in a clearly over-dramatic way.

"We have a winner! The challenger has taken the title from our defending champion, with thirty-eight bowls to thirty-six! Let's hear it for Naruto Uzumaki!" And with that, she promptly joined her father in plopping down in the nearest chair for a break. Hosting these little competitions wasn't exactly what one would call an S-Rank mission, but anyone who knew Naruto and Choji realized that trying to keep up with their orders in an eating contest may as well have been a one-on-one duel with the Hokage while your hands were tied behind your back.

The entire booth, save for Kiba, the cooks, and the competitors, let out a disappointed moan. Choji almost never failed to eat more than Naruto. The idea that someone outside of the Akimichi Clan could actually out-eat the seemingly endless pit that was Choji's stomach was unthinkable. And so, with a few grumbles, the onlookers paid their debts to the one person that had actually bet on Naruto: Kiba Inuzuka. As soon as the gamblers and a very cheery—if somewhat bloated—Naruto had left, Choji sat up and turned to the Kiba as he held out a small pouch.

"Here you go. Told you we'd make a killing if you took a dive. And I've gotta treat you to that BBQ. A deal's a deal."

"Actually, uh…I'm pretty full. I could've eaten more, but Uzumaki can really put that stuff down." Kiba's incredulous expression at the admission was, at least in Choji's opinion, priceless.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I think I'm losing my touch. I'll need to train a bit more."

"…Right." Akamaru, ever-present atop his owner's head, yipped in agreement. Only Choji would actually train himself to eat more. Then again, from what his mother had told him about the Akimichi fighting style, it made a bit of sense, strange as it may have seemed. "Well, I'll treat you to some BBQ anyway. That was a good show."

"Really? Awesome! Later Teuchi-san, Ayame-san!" The two waved at the boys with cheery expressions. Sure, they'd overheard the entire exchange, but they didn't intend to say a word to the others about the little scam. Kids would be kids, and ninja would be ninja. Besides, it just wouldn't do for the contests to stop. They'd known Naruto for years, and now that he finally had a group of friends that would spend that kind of time with him while he did something he enjoyed, they definitely didn't want to interfere. The poor kid needed all the friends he could get.

Not far away, as a certain Inuzuka was preparing to lose a good portion of his earnings, Naruto was sitting cross-legged on the bed in his apartment, sweat trickling across the back of his neck. And he couldn't help but grin in triumph. He allowed the spinning ball of chakra to fade away, dismissed his shadow clone, and wiped his forehead on his sleeve while the orange markings around his eyes disappeared, more than a little pleased with his success. He'd long since mastered the ability to use the standard version of the Rasengan with one hand, and had even managed the same with the Wind Release: Rasengan, but he still couldn't form the far more powerful Rasenshuriken without several of his clones. His rather limiting circumstances didn't help much, as he didn't exactly have many opportunities to practice the Rasengan or any of its variants, and he definitely wasn't going to try tampering with something like the Rasenshuriken while in a small apartment. Hell, he'd be hesitant to practice it in anything short of a desert considering how much damage it could cause if it was successful, never mind the chaos it would cause if something actually went wrong.

Though the shinobi of the village had been somewhat unnerved by the knowledge that he knew of the Kyuubi, a fact that had been kept from the general populace, he no longer had to completely restrict himself. As long as they knew that he could contact the fox, he could play many of his improvements off as things that he'd picked up from the dark presence or that it had explained after having seen them in action itself. So him figuring out basic things such as tree-walking didn't bother his soon-to-be fellow shinobi in the least. And whenever a villager noticed and complained, the Hokage simply told them that he was aware of the situation and that everything was under control. And with Naruto under seemingly constant surveillance from shinobi positioned around the village and his academy teachers, how could they deny that the Hokage most likely _did_ have everything taken care of?

The problem was when it came to techniques like the Rasengan. There were probably less than five people alive who knew the move well enough to actually use it, and he doubted the "I learned it from Fuzzy-chan" excuse would work on that one. It was one thing to figure out how to focus chakra into your feet, or how to move your wrist to better direct a shuriken. It was a completely different matter to master a complex and high-ranking technique only mastered by several Hokage-level shinobi. As a result, he'd been more or less limited to training it in the privacy of his room which, while allowing him to form and reform the chakra repeatedly, still didn't allow him to actually test what it could do. Then again, it was probably a good thing. If he wasn't limited, he would probably end up trying to use the Rasenshuriken, and odds are that he wouldn't be at it long before he was in the hospital again what with the technique's tendency to ruin his arm for a while after he used it.

And so, he worked to remedy one of the most notable drawbacks of his new form. He was far from mastering Sage Mode, but he was getting better. In fact, thinking back on it, the reason he'd probably been killed in the first place was because he'd quit his training early. Despite Fukasaku's warnings, he hadn't been able to stand by when he'd learned that Konohagakure was under attack and had rushed off to help. Unfortunately, this "Pain" had nearly decimated the village before learning of Naruto's location, and had left just moments before he had returned (Though from the state of the village, his incomplete Sage Mode might not have made much of a difference). After slaughtering most of the things at Mount Myōboku, the Akatsuki leader had returned to his headquarters for a short time to recover. Then not a month later he'd returned in full force before he'd had the time to continue working on his Sage powers.

And when he said full force, he meant full force. Having captured the Hachibi during the time between invasions, the Akatsuki was determined to finish their mission. Even with aid from Sunagakure and their unexpected temporary alliance with Orochimaru (Or Kabuto, or whatever the hell he was calling himself at the time) they'd been unable to fend off the full might of the Akatsuki. What was even more confusing was that, while Madara and the Six Paths had clearly been intent on capturing him, Itachi's former partner had been the one to tear him in half from behind with that massive sword of his. And they hadn't seen the plant-like member after he'd stabbed the recently-arrived Sasuke just as the battle was beginning. Or at least, he'd seen nothing more of them. Perhaps Gaara would be able to shed more light on that missing piece of information.

But now, he had the time. He couldn't learn under Fukasaku's tutelage of course, but there were a variety of improvements he could make by himself. For one, mastering the Rasengan was considerably less stressful when he limited the use of his own chakra in favor of the natural energy of the Sage Arts. He'd also quickly realized that he started to lose control of said energy when he attempted to move, which had lead to his current training method.

Shadow Clones.

Somehow or another, when all else failed, his most successful training techniques always seemed to come down to shadow clones. In this case, it had been strangely simple once he'd taken the time to consider the problem. He couldn't gather and use the energy on his own while he was moving, so the most reasonable solution was for someone else, like a clone, to gather it for him. Once he'd successfully managed that, the rest had been relatively simple. He'd concocted a few ideas, but for now his favorite was the decision to transform one of his Sage Clones into a scroll to carry around with him while it gathered energy. He even had a few ideas on how to improve the Rasenshuriken, if he could ever actually get away from the village long enough to try them out. He had no doubt that things would start getting easier once he'd become a shinobi and met Jiraiya. It'd definitely give him the opportunity to "advance" without needing so many excuses and precautions in place.

But for now, he could only work with what he had, and what he had was enough privacy to learn jutsu and work on his chakra control. So with that thought, he left to find Shisui. The man was just about the only Uchiha besides Sasuke that could actually stand him, and he was fully intent on taking advantage of this fact so that he'd have an excuse to train with someone.

* * *

**Sunagakure**

After living in the same village as the redhead for roughly a decade, the residents of Sunagakure had certainly learned at least two things. The first was that Gaara had no "good side" to speak of. The closest thing he had to a good side was more realistically described as a moderately less homicidal side. And the only way to stay on this particular side of him was to make sure you didn't do anything to set him off, and to remain as far from whatever happened to attract his ire at the time as you possibly could. The easiest way to do this was avoid any and all contact whatsoever, given that an action might please him one day, and then that exact same action might send him into a bloody rage the next.

The second thing that most had learned was that Gaara of the Sand did not make requests. He didn't make threats. He didn't make suggestions, demands, or promises. What Gaara of the Sand made were statements. If he wanted into a room, he did not ask that someone move out of his way, he did not warn them to stay out of his way, and he did not order someone to move out of his way. He simply stated that they would move out of his way, or if he didn't feel like addressing them as individuals, that he would be entering the room. If they happened to disagree with whatever his statement might have been, then there weren't many who were willing to interfere with the events that would follow soon afterwards. It was everyone for his or herself, in that scenario.

So when Gaara entered the Kazekage's office, and stated that he would be joining him on his trip to Konohagakure for the meeting regarding the schedule for the upcoming Chunin Exams at the end of the year, which were to take place in Sunagakure, everyone involved knew that he was going to be joining them in Konoha. Despite his power, for one didn't become a Kage without the appropriate skill and strength that was needed for the position, all of the Fourth Kazekage's assassin's had failed to destroy Sunagakure's greatest weapon and he was unwilling to risk his own death in an attempt to destroy the boy. At least, he refused to do so when Gaara's intentions clearly weren't a threat to the village or its occupants at the time.

Glancing up at the Jinchuuriki, he leaned back into his chair, resting his arms on the desk in front of him. He had no intention of showing fear in front of the child, regardless of what they all knew he was capable of. That was an admission of weakness that the Kazekage would be perfectly willing to take with him to the grave.

"And why are you so eager to leave the village all of a sudden, hm?"

"Curiosity." Well that had been somewhat unexpected. Gaara normally responded to him with nothing but a glare, which he generally returned with a sarcastic or biting remark before agreeing with whatever it was that Gaara had said. The boy had seemed a little odd recently. He might just have to look a little more closely into that.

"Very well. But do try to keep yourself under control. I'd hate to deal with the kind of paperwork that would pile up if you threw one of your tantrums in another village."

Gaara's only response was a grunt as he spun around and moved to return to his business. For the last month, he and Naruto had attempted to remain in some limited form of contact, but it was getting problematic. Communicating through letters could always be a risky venture, especially between villages that weren't exactly on the greatest terms, and the Kazekage would certainly notice if his precious weapon suddenly started receiving and sending them out of nowhere. And while Gaara could probably kill any messenger that intercepted one of his letters and attempted to pass the knowledge on to the Kazekage with minimal effort, he would rather avoid the relentless bloodbaths that had once made him a legend in a number of villages. He was trying to change that particular image, and going around butchering people wouldn't exactly speed the process up. No, it was time for him and his fellow Jinchuuriki to reunite in person.

* * *

AN: And there goes yet another rewrite. I didn't change much on the Gaara bit because I'm generally very pleased with my Gaara-related scenes. Don't know why.


	8. Demons

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: Well, here it is. Chapter eight rewritten.

* * *

"So, these are your children then, Kazekage-dono?" The Third Hokage looked over the trio standing behind Sunagakure's leader curiously. He'd never actually seen the Kazekage's family before, though he'd heard stories that the youngest of them could be quite vicious when he wanted to be. And admittedly, he did look a bit unfriendly as compared to the others, but certainly not like a monster. The Kazekage nodded in turn, pointing to each of the three.

"Indeed. This is Temari, Kankuro, and," He paused at the redhead for a moment, contemplating just how he wanted to introduce him, "Gaara, of the Desert."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet all of you."

Gaara gave his own half-hearted nod while his siblings bowed deeply. It wasn't that he lacked respect for the Hokage, but he'd never been especially fond of the formalities of the position, especially when he'd had almost no association with the other Kages whatsoever until he'd been thrust into the position himself. Either way, the elderly man didn't seem to take any kind of offense at his gesture. If anything he seemed pleased.

_Strange._ It was much like Naruto. He began to ponder if perhaps the Hokage was at least partially responsible for the blonde Jinchuuriki's positive attitude.

"So," The old man spoke again, "Would you like to attend our meeting? It would be a good experience if you intend to get involved in the political workings of our nations. If not, then please feel free to roam the village. That is if you have no objection of course, Kazekage-dono."

Their father looked them over for a moment, before coming to a decision. Since Gaara seemed uninterested in the offer, he had no reason to bring him along. But he certainly couldn't let the boy wander around a foreign village by himself. That could lead to far too many possible disasters to even consider. Temari already had an acceptable understanding of these matters, which left…

"Kankuro, you'll be coming with us. Temari, Gaara, you're free to do as you wish."

In other words, "Temari, make sure that your brother doesn't try to murder half of our allies while we're in the meeting." Even if he would still probably kill them without hesitation, Kankuro and Temari were just about the only people whom the Kazekage knew that Gaara wouldn't kill simply for breathing when he was in a bad mood. And of the two, Temari was the more level-headed one, and far less likely to say or do something to incur her brother's wrath.

Besides, Kankuro could use the lessons. He always seemed to disappear whenever they tried to teach him about politics, and this was a situation that he couldn't just talk his way out of.

Half an hour later, and in a different part of the village, there was another confrontation occurring. The previous was a polite political meeting between two Kages. This one, however…

"I'm giving you one more chance, Loser."

"Oh please. Like I'm really scared of you, Bastard."

"Of course not. I wouldn't expect an idiot to be scared of playing with fire, no matter how many times he's been burned. Now I'm telling you to drop it."

"Or what? Think you can catch me?" Naruto knelt down on the side of the wall out of Sasuke's reach, holding out the bright red tomato that he'd snapped from the dark-haired boy's hands mere moments after he'd bought it. Much to Sasuke's annoyance, his parents hadn't quite gotten around to teaching him the nifty little trick that would allow him to walk on walls, water, or other such surfaces that one normally couldn't. The idiot, on the other hand, apparently had picked it up somewhere. And now he had his tomato. Unforgivable.

This would not end well.

"What's wrong, Sasuke? Too slo-ack" And with that cry, Naruto was lifted into the air by what appeared to be a string of sand wrapped around his ankle. Sasuke blinked in confusion, and glanced towards the sky for a moment, before shrugging and picking up the tomato his antagonist had dropped in his ascent.

_Hmph. Anti-climactic, but convenient. At least I don't have to chase him around again._

As he took a moment to rub the thin layer of dust covering the treat off on his shirt, a blonde girl around his age, maybe a little older, walked up behind him with a concerned look. Tapping his shoulder to get his attention, she pointed to the place where Naruto had just been.

"Hey, aren't you worried about your friend?"

_Should I be worried? Perhaps, but to be completely honest, it's not that unusual. Not for the idiot, anyway._ "…Not really, no. I've seen him do stranger things."

The girl looked as though she wanted to say something, but after a few seconds of deliberation, apparently came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it. So with an apprehensive glance towards the rooftops, Temari walked off and prayed that nothing would go wrong. Her brother had just disappeared on her minutes earlier, and while he hadn't seemed particularly homicidal recently, she had no idea what he'd want with the loud kid that had been annoying the cute one. Either way, since they weren't currently being showered in blood, she could only hope that the Jinchuuriki just found the kid interesting and felt curious.

As Naruto shot through the air, only to come to a sudden stop moments later and considerably higher off the ground, he was less than pleased. He didn't like being hauled into the air without any kind of warning beforehand, he didn't like hanging upside down, and sure as hell didn't like being interrupted when he was taunting his eventual teammate and greatest rival. So when he stopped spinning and finally got his bearings straight he prepared the harshest glare he could muster, which admittedly wasn't all that intimidating, and prepared to chew someone out like never before.

"Okay, what the heck is-oh, hey Gaara! Um, mind lettin' me go?" Naruto grinned at the one-time Kazekage, his frustration dissipating in an instant at the sight of his old ally. With a casual wave, the redheaded Jinchuuriki released his grip on his ankle, allowing him to drop to the rooftop as the sand returned to its home in the gourd that never seemed to leave Gaara's back.

"It's been some time, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Yeah, especially with," He gestured at himself, "y'know, this whole thing."

"It is a rather strange feeling." Naruto let out one of those cheeky chuckles, reaching back to scratch behind his head in an all too familiar gesture. In the end, Gaara couldn't remember seeing him so careless. Not since the Toad Sannin fell.

"Tell me about it. I think I was in shock at first, then for a while there I thought I might be goin' crazy."

_So it seems we were both confused._ At least he wasn't alone in that feeling. "…How did you know you weren't?"

"Well, I didn't exactly remember much from my childhood real well. Just the big stuff, y'know? When that stuff started happening the way I thought it would, I just kinda figured…"

"It must have been real."

"Yep. Or one heck of a dream. 'Til I heard from you, I wasn't sure if I got sent back in time, or just had some kinda vision of the future or somethin' like that, or if I really just went nuts."

"It must have been difficult."

"Ah, not that bad. Haven't been able to do a lot. Stopped the Uchiha from getting' killed off, but I haven't had a chance to do much else. Can't even leave the village yet without most of the people here freaking out."

"Just leave changing things to me for now." There was only so much he'd be able to do given his own circumstances, but at least he was capable of leaving the village whenever he chose to do so.

"Heh. You just wanna have all the fun to yourself. Soon as I'm out of the academy, I'm gonna start kicking some ass."

"I'm sure."

"So, what's the plan? Is there a plan?" Naruto plopped down on the roof, crossing his legs and resting his chin on his palm. "We've got to come up with _something_, you know?"

Gaara shrugged, joining the blonde on the ground.

"All I have now are goals, but no path. The Akatsuki, Orochimaru…"

"I don't think we could bring down the freak with the mask or Pain right now, so they're off limits until we've gotten a bit stronger."

"I agree."

"Let's see…We've definitely gotta take out Orochimaru as soon as possible. Snake Bastard just doesn't give up, and we can't afford to let him take Sasuke." Frankly, it wouldn't do him or Sakura any good emotionally, especially now that he knew it was going to happen, and with the kind of potential Sasuke had it wouldn't exactly be healthy for the village either.

"If we intend to destroy Orochimaru, our best opportunity would probably be the Chunin Exams. He'll expect us all to trust the Kazekage, and he'll expect the Kazekage to trust him."

"The Chunin Exams…If things don't change too much by then, we can probably deal with a lot of our problems there. I mean, the Akatsuki's out, but some of the best that Orochimaru's got will be there."

"Indeed…And what of Sasuke Uchiha's elder brother? The one that drove him to Orochimaru?"

"Itachi? I'm not sure. As long as he doesn't kill off his clan or get the Mangekyo Sharingan, we can probably leave him alone for a while. We'll still need to deal with him sooner or later though. From what I've seen, he's pretty dangerous, even just with the regular Sharingan."

"It seems we have our work cut out for us, then."

"Nah, you 'n me can handle it no problem! We're the ones with the surprise this time!" Somehow, Gaara couldn't help the small smile that appeared with that statement.

"…Still so very optimistic."

"Huh?"

"It's inspiring. You have that effect on people." He really did. There was just something about the personality of the Kyuubi's host that seemed to draw people to him.

"Ah, it's no big deal."

"I disagree." Naruto's head tilted to the side in confusion.

"Huh? _Whattya mean?"_

"I'm…not sure that you understand just how much of an effect you have on people. Me, for instance."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Before our battle, I was a monster. Don't try to deny it." He silenced Naruto before he could make the protest that he was obviously intent on making.

"I was…alone. I had family, but we were only family through blood. My only purpose, for them or myself, was to kill anything that needed to be killed. And more often than not, things that didn't need to be killed." This time, he could avoid that.

"You, Naruto Uzumaki, changed that." The blonde just shook his head in response.

"I didn't make you care about them, Gaara. That was all you."

"Perhaps you didn't force me to care about people, no. But I never had and never would have even considered the possibility of doing so until after meeting you. The strength you had when you fought to protect people who were precious to you…it changed me, somehow. I wanted to have something to care about, something that I would go to the same lengths you did to protect, that I could draw that strength from…and perhaps, something that cared enough for me to do the same." _I wanted…a family. A real one._

"Gaara…"

"You didn't create my bonds. But you gave me both the reason and the means to build them."

"Well, uh…glad I could help, Gaara." They sat in silence again, looking out over the quiet village, Gaara watching as his first friend shuffled awkwardly. He understood, he'd been the same way when people actually began praising him instead of shunning him, but it just seemed so wrong coming from the young blonde. It was wrong that any child would be treated as they had, but someone like him, someone who never once gave in and justified their hatred of him…somehow it just felt so much worse.

"Konohagakure...is a pleasant place." Perhaps the people left something to be desired at times, but the village itself was quite a pleasant sight.

"Yeah, it is. Not much like Suna though…I mean, no offense Gaara, but I'm not really a fan of the desert." Naruto glanced over and gave the redhead a grin.

"Hm. Suna is beautiful in its own way, I suppose."

"Ya think?" His features shifted into a more quizzical expression, his thoughts drifting towards Sunagakure's appearance.

"The desert is dangerous, deadly. Just to live can be a struggle. And to see my people not only survive, but thrive…I find it beautiful."

"Huh? Y'know, that kinda makes sense. I've never really thought about it like that. So why do you like Konoha so much?" Admittedly, even if he didn't like how Suna looked in comparison to Konoha, Naruto had to respect anyone that could live there. He'd probably go crazy if he tried to live in such a dry, barren place for any extended period of time.

"Konohagakure is different. It's calming, soothing. Here, I feel…peace." A barely audible sigh passed his lips, and he lifted his head to look over the village, the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth an obvious sign of content to anyone who truly knew him.

"Yes…peace."

"Peace, eh? Yeah, that's a pretty good way to describe it. And when'd you get so darn poetic, Gaara?"

"Hmph."

"What's that s'posed to mean?"

"Well, it's just that from what little I've heard, you do your best to make sure that things around here are as far from peaceful as possible."

"Oh come on, I'm not much of a prankster anymore. And they weren't that bad."

"…" Gaara just gave him a pointed, skeptical look.

"…What?"

"…"

"I'm serious!"

"…"

"Hey, don't give me that look."

"…"

"Okay, so maybe I still do a prank now and then! What's the big deal?"

"…"

"You just don't give up, do ya?"

"…"

"…Alright, alright, I'll admit it. I still do a prank or two every couple months."

"…"

"…Weeks?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Days?"

"Hn." Translation: That was a claim that he could actually believe.

"Yeesh. Ever consider being an interrogator?"

"You're rather simple to read, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto stuck his tongue out. Gaara just smirked.

* * *

AN: There goes the chapter eight rewrite. Possibly one of the least heavily altered yet.


	9. Confusing Truths

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

* * *

Temari had known that her youngest brother was traveling across the rooftops. She hadn't tried to stop him, of course, because that would be among the most idiotic and insane decisions that she could have possibly made in her entire life. Besides, aside from the fact that trying to stop Gaara from doing something that he wanted to do was an incredibly dangerous choice, he didn't seem interested in causing damage. And so it made no sense to do something that might rid him of the very pleasant mood he'd been in lately (Or as pleasant a mood as a lunatic who proved his existence through the torture and brutal murder of others could be in). So she'd been reasonably concerned when, out of the blue, he'd snatched a young blond boy off of the ground and dragged him through the air to his location.

On one hand, she didn't want the poor kid to get killed. It's not like the people of this village were used to avoiding Gaara's wrath, and while she wasn't the kindest and most courteous person in history, it wasn't as though she was completely heartless. Besides, even if she didn't care as a person, it would be especially problematic for the Sand if said death was at Gaara's hands. But when the blond boy's companion had said that he'd seen him "do stranger," she figured that they might be able to get out of the village before anything could be connected to them to any incidents that might occur. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw an hour later, when she'd decided to get something to eat.

Her little brother. At some random little run-down shop in the streets of the village.

Laughing.

Okay, so perhaps it wasn't a loud, echoing, bellow of a laugh or anything like that. It was more of a muffled chuckle. Not even a full chuckle, really, but considering the fact that this was Gaara of the Sand, the small sound was above and beyond what anyone could ever expect to see. And it wasn't the insane, twisted, guttural version of a laugh that he tended to growl out when he was killing someone. It was a genuinely happy, pleasant laugh. This, she decided, was proof that Gaara's shift in moods lately hadn't all been in her head.

_Or maybe he's finally snapped._ The prospect wasn't exactly a pleasant train of thought, and so she shoved it into the back of her thoughts. If her little brother had finally gone completely out of his mind, it seemed to be more of an improvement than anything. Besides, she was curious, especially given that the person he was there with was the same kid that she was convinced would be a bloody mess before the day was over. So with some hesitation, and more anxiety that she would ever care to admit, she walked over to see exactly what the two were so amused with.

"Gaara?"

The duo turned to look at her, and Gaara's face shifted into more controlled expression, though it was still a far softer than she could ever remember seeing on him. The blond boy glanced back and forth between them a few times, before pointing at her.

"So that's your sister, right?"

"Temari."

"Right, right, Temari." As if he didn't already know. Still, playing the part could be fun sometimes. He'd certainly managed to annoy his teachers and classmates by accurately "guessing" what they would say and how they would react in certain situations. It wasn't perfect, but it was usually close enough. "Hey, wanna join us?"

"Uh, sure. I guess. I mean if it's okay with you, Gaara." At the slight nod, she took a seat next to her brother, glancing at him from the corner of her eye as she tried to focus on what she wanted to order. The whole thing was a little surreal, and Gaara's attitude was just plain starting to freak her out. She couldn't say whether or not he'd confirmed it with the blond boy earlier, but he had actually just referred to her as his sister rather than a potential target, albeit indirectly.

_What's been wrong with him lately?_

As she gave her order to the old man whom she presumed was the owner of the stand, she couldn't help taking a moment to ponder that thought. She had to admit that their family really must be pretty screwed up if the first idea to cross her mind when her brother actually treated her as a person instead of a tool was that there must be something wrong with him. Yet just as she'd felt so many times since he'd started acting so strange, after getting through all of the anxiety it was somehow pleasing to see the little boy acting so much more human.

"So, Tanuki Boy here says that you guys are visiting on business. What's the deal?"

_Tanuki…Boy?_ "Tanuki boy?"

"Yeah, y'know." Naruto hopped out of his seat and walked behind Gaara, turning him to face Temari as the redhead…Well, he pretty much held the same blank look as always, almost as if he was unaware of the contact at all. If that'd been her, they'd be finding the remains for months. Reaching around Gaara's head to point at the dark circles around his eyes and poking at them, as if his own sister wouldn't already be clearly aware of their presence, Naruto continued. "See? Just like a little Tanuki."

"That's, uh…" What exactly was one supposed to say to the person who cheerily poked fun at a sadistic murderer about his appearance? Especially when that person was basically asking you to do the same, and when you would have to live with said murderer? "Accurate?"

"Hn."

"Accurate? Well, I guess. I was kind of expecting things like 'cuddly' or 'oh that's so cute, I wanna hug him' or something. You know, all that girly-girl type of stuff. But I guess you're not really a girly type of person…"

She felt herself twitch.

"…Are you saying I'm not feminine?" Okay, so she didn't go out of her way to act like a lot of the girls her age. But kunoichi or not, she was quickly on her way to becoming a woman (At least as far as she was concerned, though Kankuro insisted she was still "an annoying little girl"), and she didn't want to come off as overtly masculine. Maybe she didn't want to be mistaken for one of the shallow brats who went around blubbering about their looks day in and day out, but it couldn't be a good sign if a boy just a couple years younger than her thought she was too boyish.

"N-no, nothing like that! I'm just saying that you're a lot more boyish than most of the girls I know!"

Another twitch, and Naruto had the distinct feeling that if he didn't clear things up very quickly, there was going to be much pain wrought upon his ten year old self. Temari and Gaara's thought processes were running along very similar pathways.

"But it's not that you're-it's just-I mean, the girls I know are really, really girly, so-"

It seemed to be getting worse. Much worse. It was nearly as bad as the time Sakura had found him just as he was showing off one of his new Sexy Jutsu to Konohamaru, whom she had apparently deemed as "way too young" for that kind of thing. His head hadn't stopped spinning for weeks after that one. Thankfully, he had Gaara to back him up this time.

"A little help here, maybe?" Gaara…well, it was difficult for someone who was doing absolutely nothing to pause, but somehow he managed to pull it off. After several seconds of contemplation, he offered his solution.

"Stop. Shut up. Sit down. Eat your ramen."

Okay, so he kind of had Gaara on his side. From a certain point of view. If you looked close enough. Even if the Sand Jinchuuriki wasn't exactly polite in his rescue attempt. Of course, Naruto couldn't just do as he was told. That would be far too easy. Instead he decided that a new course of action would be more amusing and less likely to end with his voice raising a few pitches after a blow to a particularly sensitive section of his anatomy.

"Aw, come on little Tanuki Boy, I'm just having a litt-wah!" Naruto fell backwards, landing hard on his hindquarters. Letting out an annoyed mumble that sounded eerily similar to "Stupid sand powers," which Temari was too distracted to notice as she saw small tendrils of sand settling back to the ground from where they'd silently shifted under the blonde's feet. He pulled himself back onto his seat and sent a mock-glare towards the other boy. In the meantime, Temari was staring at the scene aghast, half expecting Gaara to suddenly go mad and destroy the entire city block, and half awed that he'd been so remarkably patient with a complete stranger when he'd carelessly threatened even his own family on numerous occasions. Not to mention that he'd once again broken his normal routine and come to her defense, albeit in a different manner (And despite the fact that it was at least partially for the other boy's sake, rather than hers).

It just didn't make sense. She was, much unlike Kankuro, driven by logic. She organized. She strategized. She planned. She prepared. There was rhyme and reason to everything, and everything had its place and purpose. She wasn't obsessive when it came to having order, but she couldn't just overlook how severely Gaara was breaking the natural workings of their lives. And what's more, he was doing so without any apparent reason aside from the fact that he simply felt like it. Even as random as his actions normally seemed to those who didn't know him, she'd watched him often enough to realize that unnoticeable as they might appear, he did have a tentative sort of system to his madness.

In the end, she decided that it would probably just be better for her sanity if she took his advice to the annoying orange-clad boy herself. Stop, shut up, sit down, and eat the ramen.

However, even if she did stop trying to analyze the red haired boy she couldn't bring herself to stop observing him. Nor could she seem to take her eyes off the boy currently chatting away about any and all pointless little matters that crossed his mind. He was loud, and annoying. Gaara didn't like loud and annoying people. He killed loud and annoying people. There must have been something special about this one. But what? He was cute in an odd way, yes, but Gaara had never cared about things like that. Looking from a different angle, he did bear some similarities to their uncle, but for some reason Gaara had closed off after their father had told them of Yashamaru's death. Still, even if he did resemble Yashamaru it was only slight, and many people in their own village had those same features.

No, it was something else. As she watched the boy practically breathe in the soupy dish, she decided that Gaara was treating him with such unusual kindness because he was, to put it quite bluntly, weird. With that conclusion in mind, she turned to her meal, intent on trying not to mentally dissect the duo to figure out what made them tick. Or perhaps in Gaara's case, what was making him tick so out of order recently.

_No, bad! Stop analyzing!_

So she did. And when she stopped trying to do so, she found herself actually enjoying the odd little activity with her brother and his mildly insane friend. Yes, friend. Gaara had a friend. It was almost inconceivable, but she couldn't deny what she was seeing with her own two eyes. In a short time she found she was beginning to enjoy the blond boy's ramblings, which seemed to flood from his mouth without hesitation, and consisted of everything from jokes, to complaints about people who didn't understand the glory of ramen, to tales of his oh-so-brilliant exploits (also known to a select few as pranks, though Naruto seemed shocked and appalled that she would even consider his amazing art to be mere gags). The only problem was, it was bound to end sooner or later. And that time came when the messenger bird that was constantly waiting with the Kazekage's bodyguards in case of an emergency, or if he simply needed to drag his agents away from whatever they were doing, fluttered into the small shop.

Whether or not it came as a comfort that Gaara didn't show signs of any uncharacteristic behavior as they bade the strange child farewell, she wasn't certain. Neither boy seemed to be upset or surprised with the seemingly harsh departure (Of course, considering that Gaara had never actually been in such a situation, she supposed she couldn't really say if it was a harsh separation or the nicest thing that Gaara would ever do for someone). Letting the matter drop, she simply smiled and waved goodbye, walking a short ways ahead of her brother. Despite their lack of rush, it wasn't very long before they were able to spot the Kazekage, his guards, and Kankuro at the gates to the village. And considering that the Kazekage began to move towards said gates she came to the conclusion, with no real surprise, that he simply didn't care what they had been doing. Only that Gaara had behaved himself. On the other hand…

"How was it? Are you freaking kidding me, Temari? It was crap! You guys are so lucky, getting to run around the village like that. I had to sit around and listen to a bunch of old geezers yap on about the old days for hours, and then I had to sit through an even longer session of 'We'll be having this many of that for those guys in that thing' crap before I was free."

"Shut up, Kankuro." He twisted around to look at her, holding his hand up and mimicking a mouth.

"Shut up, Kankuro." Easily one of the most intentionally horrible imitations of her voice that she'd ever heard, but after the day she'd had she couldn't bring herself to do much more than chuckle and stick her tongue out at him. He returned the gesture.

That gesture was promptly rewarded with a ball of sand striking him in the face, sending the young puppet practitioner into a fit of sputtering and coughing. Temari jerked back in surprise, turning just in time for her youngest brother to pass by her, face impassive as it always was. When he was in front of their little group, he allowed himself a quick smirk before forcing the neutral expression back into place.

Sometimes, it was fun to be the immature one.

* * *

The young man, or perhaps child in the eyes of many who failed to genuinely grasp what a shinobi's life was, grunted as the blade was driven through his hands, pinning him to the pillar he'd nearly shattered upon being thrown against it.

"To see one of the Sannin in such a miserable state…What a pathetic display."

Orochimaru released his grip on the Kusanagi, instead leaning his palms one over the other on the end of the hilt and chuckling at the taunt. Regardless of the danger it may have posed, he didn't bother to avoid the Uchiha's gaze, and lowered his head to examine the unique appearance of the Sharingan with curiosity. Much as he'd expected, Itachi didn't show the slightest sign of anger or fear, staring back at his opponent with bored and dismissive eyes. Truly, he was a model representation of what those in their world aimed to become. Relentless, fearless, untouchable, and with more than what was necessary to back up those features if intimidation wasn't enough…A perfect host.

"Are you certain you don't want to take that back, my little Uchiha? You aren't in much of a position to be making insults. The rest of the Akatsuki's little minions aren't about to come running to your aid, after all. For now we're all alone. It's just you and me."

"I suppose you expected me to be surprised at this betrayal?"

"Of course I didn't. Everyone knew this was coming. I doubt there's a single person in the Akatsuki who doesn't have a plan of their own. We've all merely united until our mutual enemies are no longer so quite so threatening. My time just came a little earlier than everyone else's. I may be the first, but I certainly won't be the last."

"I see. So you do have at least some understanding of the reality behind the organization. It's true that we are all working to our own ends. However, you're wrong in one regard."

"Hm?" He pressed upward on the hilt, letting loose another chuckle when the young boy's eyes narrowed slightly in frustration, though without any true signs of pain. "And what might that be?"

"You're betrayal wasn't the first."

And the snakelike eyes widened as a familiar voice spoke quietly from behind him.

"Long time no see, Orochimaru."

* * *

Naruto stepped into the small apartment, just like countless others provided to orphans who lived on their own or those who couldn't afford anything else, with a sigh. Meeting with Gaara had been fun, and he'd never been quite as relieved as he'd been when he finally confirmed that he truly wasn't alone in this little venture. Especially considering that unlike himself, Gaara did have the means of affecting things beyond simply training and hoping that events would fall into place the way that he wanted them to. He flipped on the light and made his way to the small kitchen area, the thought of more ramen already making him practically drool.

So, what should it be tonight? Miso? Or maybe-

"Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko." Naruto whirld around as he heard the words, hand flicking towards where his weapon pouch had always adorned his leg and only just barely managing to stop the action mid-motion. The arrival's expression never changed, but Naruto would expect no less. The man calmly sitting at the small table, which was unsurprisingly still covered in the leftovers of his breakfast, was notoriously skilled at keeping his emotions in check. But why had he shown up here, of all places? Regardless, he was certain that the action had triggered some surprise. Or considering who he was dealing with, suspicion.

"Huh? Who are you, old man? You know, people always tell me not to talk to strangers." Actually, he'd never once been told not to talk to strangers by anyone, but that wasn't really the point. No, the point would be to cause as much trouble for the dark-haired shinobi as possible.

"I'm an associate of the Third Hokage."

"Yeah, and?" Still no reaction, not that it was surprising. The old man was, if nothing else, patient.

"And I would like to have a word with you in private." Naruto raised an eyebrow, glancing around the empty apartment.

"Aren't we alone?"

"Far from it. You've much to learn if you truly believe you've ever been left completely to your own devices. The Hokage has always kept you under watch, as have I."

It was true. He rarely bothered to say or do anything about it given that he'd suspected something like that several years earlier, but he was usually able to locate the people following him if he ever actually tried. But why try when he already knew that they were just keeping an eye on him? There was no ill intent, at least on the Hokage's part. If anything, they were probably there for his protection.

"Oh please. Why should I believe you?"

"You shouldn't. The nature of shinobi is deceit. But this is of no surprise to you, I'm certain. I've come to realize that you aren't quite as hopelessly inept as you seem to enjoy acting. You've developed quite the façade, Naruto Namikaze."

Namikaze? What? What was he talking about? Was he suddenly going senile or something? The idea that this guy would get his name wrong was baffling, to say the least.

"W-what do you mean Namikaze? You must have the wrong guy. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, old man."

"You would think so, wouldn't you? Names…names are quite the funny thing, at times. Some feel that name alone makes us what we are. I must disagree. Names hold little value outside of that which people give them, but people are foolish. They respect names, and titles, more than they respect those who hold them. But I digress. Suffice it to say that the presence of the Kyuubi within your body isn't the only secret that the Lord Third Hokage has kept from you over these years. I have some information that I'm certain you would like to access. That is, if you are willing to learn the truth of course. But that choice is not one I can make for you."

Heavens only knew what the aging shinobi had planned, but Naruto had never been especially fond of thinking over the risks before jumping into trouble. He was too valuable to be killed or locked away, and he had to admit that he was genuinely curious at this point. It couldn't hurt to go along with things for now, right?

"Fine, but who the heck are you?"

"I tend to the roots that act as Konohagakure's foundation. You may call me-"

"Danzou, I must wonder, what are you doing here with this child?"

* * *

AN: A little shorter than many of you were probably hoping for, considering how long it's been since I updated. And I really can't apologize enough for all of the delays. If I were a billionaire, then maybe I could stand to put fanfiction over real life on my priority list, but until then…Anyway, I'm hoping that I can start updating all of the fics I plan to continue (Including this one) more often in the near future. At the very least, I can say that I really doubt it will be another year-long break before I can get another one out. Thanks to everyone that's been sticking with my stories through all of this. Hope you enjoy!


	10. Devilish Gift

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: Well…Yo. No, neither this story nor I qualify as dead. However, as I've told some of those who have reviewed/messaged me about it, outside life has been its usual annoying self. And aside from all the normal things that plague my time, in the last six or seven months I've gotten really serious about finishing an original novel I've been tossing around in my head for quite some time. To give you an idea, it's not finished and already longer than Oath (I'm excluding Author's Notes in that number), and probably going to be over three times the size of this story as of the chapter before this one. And unlike these fics I didn't really have fully developed characters, rules, or a world already in place when I started writing. So I'm sure you can see how it might be taking a bit of time.

Also, Kishi has been going interesting places lately. For the sake of anyone just joining us here, this story was started (perhaps not posted, but started) well before the manga even really got in to the battle with Pain. Actually, I was tossing it around in my head since way back when Sasuke was hunting down Itachi, if not a little earlier. So while I do plan to incorporate things that Kishi has revealed since then, it's safe to say that a lot may be saved or tossed out as I see fit to keep with my original plans. This includes pretty much anything from Sasuke vs. Deidara onward (Again, if not earlier), and anything revealed in the Third Databook…Though I admit, **some** of the things Kishi has done really, really work well with the story I had in mind and even if I haven't been working on the actual writing, I've been making notes and planning a few things for this fic in my downtime.

_**Demon/Inner Conversation**_

* * *

Naruto didn't have time to register what had happened before a simple but well played Genjutsu drew his mind into darkness. Danzou's head tilted toward the new arrival crouched on the window sill in greeting, unsurprised at his presence but less than pleased at the timing.

"So the dog has arrived at last." The young boy chuckled at the shinobi's barb.

"No need to be rude, Danzou-sama. I'm a child, after all. It's only natural for me to question my elders, no? I realized that you had some sort of interest in the Jinchuuriki of course, but I never thought you'd go out of your way to contact him. Well, not until you needed something destroyed anyway. Their kind has something of a talent in that department. So what **are** you here for?"

"Nothing of importance to you, boy. Do you have the package that I was promised?" The boy's mouth dropped in a playful imitation of shock and hurt.

"You doubted my skills? Why, I'm wounded to hear that you have so little faith in my-"

"Boy." The single syllable elicited a sigh.

"Oh, very well. Yes, I retrieved your little toys and they're safely stored away in the place we've agreed upon. And it was no walk in the park, let me tell you. Those Uchiha really keep their tombs well guarded. It must be annoying to have something as valuable as the Sharingan, what with the thieves and all." Several times throughout the raid on Kagami's tomb he'd been forced to resist his urge to take a few of the Uchiha for his own.

"No one who truly calls himself shinobi can deny that acts requiring…questionable…moral decisions are sometimes necessary for the security of the village as a whole. Even Hiruzen and those buffoonish apprentices of his understood this fact. My request is merely one of many necessities. I trust that you didn't leave any loose ends?"

"Of course not. Right now a loose end would bring quite a bit of fire down on us both. Besides, you know that I never leave a mess unless it needs to be left." He chuckled at his little joke, not caring that only he knew the true meaning behind the words. No need to clue the old man in any further. "But really, I must admit I'm surprised. I wouldn't expect you to even mention something like that in front of the kid."

"My reasons are mine, and mine alone."

"Now, now, is that any way to maintain a healthy relationship? How can you expect me to trust you with **my** secrets if you can't trust me with yours? And let's not forget who it is that's been putting himself at risk to maintain contact with our mutual friend. You can't contact him, so unless Madara intends to come personally explain his plans to you in detail then you need me to make nice with that little spy of yours." Save for a grunt of admission, the elderly shinobi ignored him.

"I assume you've dealt with the shadows."

"Hm? Oh, you mean the ANBU that the Hokage has watching the place? They're taking a little nap at the moment. You know, you'll have to stop ignoring me and changing the subject sooner or later." His expression shifted, his entire demeanor suddenly lacking in the cheery, youthful signals it had previously held.

"What is it precisely that you want with the Jinchuuriki?" They stared at one another in silence until Danzou decided that it wouldn't hurt to give just a little. After all, a distrusting pawn was a less efficient pawn, and this one had potential.

"My intent was to confirm some recent suspicions regarding his power, and what he understands of that power. Now I suggest you run off to make sure your masters aren't checking in on their loyal little hound." And with that simple explanation the jovial youth returned.

"Heh. Right." He stepped over to the unconscious blonde on the floor, looped an arm around his waist, and flickered away. A moment later he returned, having deposited the boy in his room, and put a hand on his hip as the other moved in sarcastic wave at the older shinobi. "Just make sure you don't get the kid in too much trouble. He'll be useful to us in the future after all."

"…And just how might he be of use to a child such as you? Unless you intend to hand him over to your associates." He clasped his hands together over his lap, a relaxed posture to hide his hand's proximity to the kunai beneath his robe.

"How would I find him useful? It's quite simple, Danzou-sama; because that boy has a knack for causing trouble. And the world…" A lower, far more sinister chuckle erupted from his lips. The light haired boy made a show of pushing his glasses back into place, serpentine eyes filled with far more knowledge than those of a child his age should have contained.

"The world is so much more interesting when things are in motion, wouldn't you agree?"

"Kai." And the younger of the two disappeared, leaving the elderly shinobi alone in the apartment with the unconscious Jinchuuriki once again. The child had probably been well on his way back to his home by the time the Genjutsu had become noticeable. _Clever boy, Yakushi-san._ But this wasn't the time for that. No, he needed to have a word with Naruto Uzumaki, and it clearly wasn't going to be happening until he awoke. Yet he couldn't remain in the boy's apartment. It wasn't as though the Third Hokage had him followed—even now Hiruzen trusted him far more than he should have, all the more evidence that his ability to do what a leader must was fading—but it would undoubtedly draw attention if he disappeared around the home of the Jinchuuriki for any significant period of time. And Naruto's own shadows would be likely to notice if Kabuto didn't catch them early enough, or his jutsu wore off too soon.

Either way, they needed another meeting place, and he knew of one that just might work. If the vessel could actually reach it then it would only go to show that he **was** far more than he let on. If not…Well, he would have to ensure that Fuu and Torune tailed the boy to prevent anything unsavory from happening. It wouldn't do to lose access to one of their greatest assets, or worse yet, release the beast upon the unsuspecting Konohagakure.

Several hours later as the sun began to rise, when Naruto finally dragged himself back from the depths of his rather pleasant dreams of a bowl of ramen (And for some strange reason, a miniature version of Manda and Gamabunta dueling over an annoyed Katsuya with a set of chopsticks), he noticed the small piece of paper sitting on a section of his breakfast table that had been cleared off. One that he was certain hadn't been present before he'd…he'd passed out?

_What __**did**__ happen there? It seemed almost like a Genjutsu._ Not that he was an expert. For all of the strength he'd gained over the years, Genjutsu was still easily his greatest weakness. He just couldn't seem to get a handle on the stuff, plain and simple, at least aside from breaking some weaker illusions. Either way, he hadn't seen Danzou do anything so maybe someone else had interfered…

He picked the paper up, turning it over in his hand a few times. Blank, save for a small marking identical to those used by ANBU. Not surprising though. The old man had always been a sneaky one, so the idea that he'd leave something in plain sight without any kind of special measures to make certain only the right people saw it was laughable. He began to flow his chakra through it and looked over the sheet again a few more times, a frown coming to his face when nothing appeared after a several minutes. That clearly wasn't what the old man was expecting him to do.

Maybe this was all just some bizarre trick? Or maybe it really had just been a dream. No, no, he was certain it had been real—the presence of this note alone was enough evidence of that. Something was off. It had to be. While Danzou hadn't shown any signs of surprise in the quick glimpse he'd managed to get of the older man before passing out, somehow Naruto just knew he hadn't intended for their meeting to end so abruptly. But nothing seemed out of place, and the paper was almost completely blank. Even when he tried flowing chakra through it nothing happened. It was his only clue, but…_Wait a minute! Man, I'm such an idiot sometimes._ He should have thought of it before. He already had a perfectly good method of examining chakra signatures, so this could at least confirm whether or not Danzou had left something or if he was just becoming paranoid. The Jinchuuriki stood still, allowed the natural energy around him to flow and merge with his own chakra, and within seconds he could feel the change. And then he sensed it. The faint trace of chakra stored inside Danzou's clue. A chakra that he knew all too well.

_That explains why I couldn't cause a change with my normal chakra._ He dropped out of Sage Mode, instead focusing on drawing out the Kyuubi's power and lacing it through the paper. He wasn't disappointed. The dark force triggered the release of its counterpart sealed within the note, twisting and drawing the powerful chakra back into its rightful place within its current vessel. And as soon as it was gone a symbol appeared briefly on the paper, fading as words began to reveal themselves.

"_If you wish to understand the truth of which I spoke, meet me in the following location one hour past midnight tomorrow. North of the village is a place known as the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, though you have likely heard of it only by its popular nickname: The Forest of Death. Ten kilometers toward the center of this forest is a tower. I will be awaiting your arrival within. Do not arrive late. Do not allow yourself to be followed."_ Naruto yelped as the paper sparked, going up in flames just as he finished reading.

Would he show? Damned right he would. Naruto didn't know what this "truth" that Danzou kept preaching about was, but it was bound to be interesting if the man was already making a move. Not to mention that he wanted to know just how the older shinobi managed to get his hands on some of the Kyuubi's chakra. He was no seal master, but Jiraiya had given him plenty of lectures on the subject and he'd never heard of someone drawing chakra straight from a Jinchuuriki that wasn't using the stuff, since it was typically safely locked behind some form of seal away from all but the Jinchuuriki itself. Well, aside from the Akatsuki, but between the ones calling themselves Pain and Madara the organization was an exception to the rule.

Besides, he would be bored out of his mind if he didn't try to help fix **something** he'd done wrong before and there was no way he'd let Gaara have all the fun. But for now, he needed something to do.

About four hours later, Anko Mitarashi came to a sudden halt on the way to the gate leading out of the village. She stood in the street, head tilted to the side and eyes narrowed.

"Yo, Fishn-" The call was silenced as Anko twisted around and grabbed the flying ball of orange chaos midair, then flung him into the ground at her feet with little more than a quirked eyebrow. Said ball of chaos rubbed at the back of his head while sending a glare at the young woman.

"Ow."

"Don't gimme that. The hell they teachin' you little maggots at the academy these days? What kinda ninja screams out his target's name when he's trying to jump 'em?" Naruto ignored the question and squinted his eyes at her appearance.

"…What?" She glanced down at herself. There was nothing showing and nothing all that different from her usual style. "Whattya lookin' at?"

He ignored her again, taking a moment to prod at the metal mesh on her abdomen with his fingers a few times.

"The heck is this stuff?" Oh he knew what it was, it wasn't as though Mitarashi was the only ninja in the village with the sense to wear some form of armor, but her responses were always entertaining. He hadn't known her very well in the past, but in the several instances he'd paid attention to her this time around she never really seemed to have that hidden anger towards him that many of the others did. He'd have to ask about that some day.

"Sorry brat, but since I'm about to go on a mission it's off with the net, on with the mesh. Afraid you're gonna have to get your jollies somewhere else today."

"Jollies? What's a jolly? Is it like some kinda candy or something?" If he were older he could have just flirted, teased her back, or something of the sort. As it was he was basically limited to trying to embarrass people.

"Eh?" Her eyes widened in embarrassment. It wouldn't have been so bad if this was one of her colleagues, but sometimes she tended to stick her foot in her mouth when she dealt with this kid. "I, uh, eheh…oops. I guess you might still be too young for that kinda thing. Just forget I mentioned it."

"But I want some jollies." And to be completely truthful, he had no idea which one of them was more fun.

"Uh…"

"Come on, just gimme some jollies lady!" Though the sudden anxiety in the woman's expression as her eyes darted between the people walking about the street, several of which were sending them odd stares, was pushing it in favor of embarrassment.

"Ooh boy…" She dug into her pocket and pulled out some change. "Listen, how about you just forget this conversation happened and have some ramen on me? Sound good?"

"Ramen!" The money disappeared from her hand before she could blink. "Heck yeah! Catch you later Fishnet."

And ramen was had. Unfortunately, even the power of ramen noodles from the most excellent ramen master in the world could only keep him busy for so long. The rest of the day passed agonizingly slow, as if the world had slowed down solely to keep him from discovering whatever secrets Danzou planned to explain that night. Finally, after what felt like years of waiting, nightfall had come. Sneaking out from under the eye of his watchdogs wasn't difficult. A few simple shadow clone tricks and they thought he was walking either to his home or the market. Either way, they clearly hadn't caught the memo that someone who had a demonic fox locked in his stomach could probably come up with a double diversion.

Sneaking into the forest, likewise, posed little difficulty. They didn't really guard the place because no one was stupid enough to enter in the first place, much less alone, and even if they did odds were that most would cause enough of a ruckus to alert the night guards in the village to anything coming their way. Naruto Uzumaki was not most people. Between short bursts of Sage Mode and the Kyuubi's chakra, avoiding any of the forest's wildlife without drawing any attention to himself was one of the simplest missions he'd had that didn't involve pulling weeds. He was at the tower within the hour.

Danzou greeted him with a silent nod, waiting just as he'd said.

"You've come."

"Yep."

"Then you believe me when I say I have something of significance to tell you, something about your past?" Naruto gave his own nod in response. "Very well. But I must warn you, there is a condition that comes with this information."

"What kind of condition?"

"This condition." He held a small slip of paper, just a couple of inches long and slightly less wide, and held it out for the younger boy. Naruto glanced over it and turned suspicious eyes on the shinobi.

"A seal. You want to put a seal on me."

"Yes." Danzou's calm exterior didn't slip, likely having expected this from the start.

"What for?"

"The details I'm prepared to offer are not public knowledge for a reason. The Third Hokage, the Elders, and I agreed that it could be a potential threat to you and to this village if it were to be released. The only reason I'm presenting you with this opportunity is because you have proven far more capable than we expected; a foolish error on our part." His single eye opened only a small fraction, though the expectation in that tiny window of visibility was obvious.

"So this seal, it'll keep me from talking about whatever it is you're telling me?"

"Precisely." Naruto held the paper up to the light for a closer examination.

"Does it do anything else? Anything I might need to know about?"

"You don't trust me at my word?" Naruto paused, shook his head. He didn't plan to lie to the man. He didn't seem offended by the gesture. If anything, the admission seemed to please him. "Very good. I'd have been disappointed if you were naïve enough to make such a mistake, even more so after the skill you've displayed thus far. There _is_ another effect that this seal is designed for. Not only will it induce paralysis should you attempt to discuss what I would tell you tonight, but it will allow me to track your location at all times."

"I'm not sure I like that idea."

"And you shouldn't. Very few people would appreciate such a restriction. However, I'm rather certain that you will find it agreeable once you've heard what I have to say. If you truly wish it, I could remove that particular restriction after we have discussed the matter which has brought both of us here. The silence, however, is non-negotiable." Naruto remained silent for several minutes, tossing the idea around in his head. Thankfully, Danzou seemed content with giving him the time to do so. On one hand, there was a good chance that the man was lying, or at least not telling him the entire truth. He'd even openly acknowledge that he didn't believe it would be wise to trust him. If the seal did more than track and silence him, if he'd bluffed about removing it…But on the other hand, he'd spoken of a secret regarding the past, _his_ past. How many times had he wanted to know something, anything, about his family? His background? Maybe it wasn't some kind of fluffy story—orphans rarely had those—but at least it would be something. And if he _was_ telling the truth…no, he couldn't let a chance like this just slip by.

"Do it." Danzou nodded and took the seal. "Hold out your tongue."

Naruto complied, fighting against his nerves as the one-eyed shinobi placed the seal near the back of his tongue. There was a quick flash of unfamiliar chakra as it activated, a feeling of numbness, and then he was back to normal. Danzou pulled the paper away as it sparked much as his note had, all traces gone in a flash.

"Now, we have much to discuss, young Namikaze."

"Stop calling me that." Naruto jabbed his thumb into his chest. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the Number One Unpredictable Ninja of Konoha and—"

"And you are the son of the late Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze."

"I…I don't—"

"Did you truly not notice the similarities? Even carved in stone, the likeness is remarkable. Surely you've looked in a mirror before, seen the resemblance between your faces."

"Y-yeah, I guess we look kinda alike, but that doesn't mean—" It couldn't be, could it? It would be impossible, insane, but at the same time…"How could no one know? How could no one say anything?"

"As I've said, a great many things have been kept from you, but not without reason."

"Then tell me!" He cried out, arms flung to the side and voice strained. "Tell me why I couldn't even know my own father's name!"

"Do you know what it is to be Hokage?"

"Huh?"

"A Hokage's life is battle. A Hokage's life is sacrifice. Not only was your father a man of the highest rank achievable by any shinobi, the face that every nation will see when they think of their rivals in war, but he was a legend on the battlefield long before he attained that title. Do you believe such admiration and fame came without a price?"

"Well no, but…I just don't understand. Why couldn't you tell _me_ who he was?"

"No matter your control you are still just a child, and there are many who could and _would_ have taken advantage of this fact. Minato Namikaze had many enemies. There are many who would gladly take their vengeance out on his son if the opportunity were to arise, or worse yet, who would capitalize on the legend to turn a child such as you into a weapon against this village. We could not allow that." Naruto sat on that for a moment, considered the older man's words. That…actually sounded pretty reasonable. Danzou was probably just trying to manipulate him, he expected that much, but he couldn't spot any flaws in his reasoning so far.

"But-but what about my mother? Why haven't I ever met her? If…" He swallowed the lump in his throat. This was the question. His father, well, he supposed that if his father really was the previous Hokage then it was understandable. They did it to protect him. But his mother, what was her excuse? There had always been a hope deep inside of him that she was alive, yet at the same time it brought up the horrifying possibility that she simply didn't _want_ him.

"Your mother died in childbirth."

And that was it. Dead. Gone. He could feel the pain in his gut, the tremble of his shoulders, the wetness in his eyes he tried to wipe away along with the knowledge that he would never meet her. But he knew. Finally, after so many years, there was an answer. But Danzou was speaking…

"Her name was Kushina Uzumaki."

_Kushina Uzumaki…_It was a beautiful name. And it was her name; his name.

Danzou watched patiently for several minutes of silence passed as Naruto sorted through everything he'd learned so far. His mother, Kushina Uzumaki. His father, Minato Namikaze. His father, the Fourth Hokage. _But wait, that means…!_

"The Fourth Hokage—my father—sealed the fox in me!" He could feel the anger building; An incredible fury that his own flesh and blood, the man he'd admired most and dream of meeting more than any other, had made his childhood a living hell. What might have been the most important man in his life, the one who had taught his sensei, been the apprentice to his other sensei, the successor and friend of a man he thought of as a grandfather, was responsible for that—that _thing_ sealed inside of him.

"Yes." Danzou nodded, unaffected by the blonde's growing rage.

"Why?"

"…Allow me to tell you a story of sorts." He ignored the flash of confusion on the blonde's face.

"Your mother was arrogant, she refused to do as she was told, she started fights repeatedly, and when she didn't start a fight she jumped in to the fray at every opportunity. She was brash, rude, loud, obnoxious," Naruto's fists tightened, anger rising with every insult Danzou threw at his dead mother. He clenched his jaw, prepared to speak out in her defense—

"However, she cared very deeply for this village and its inhabitants, no matter how greatly she may have disliked certain individuals such as myself. Her skill in the art of Ninjutsu was pitiful in most regards, but her style was unique and effective. She had no lack of skill in Taijutsu and Genjutsu, and her mastery of sealing techniques was nearly unsurpassed—No doubt a result of her heritage and upbringing as a member of the Uzumaki. But most importantly—" The eye opened, focused on the child before him, engrossed in every word, aware on some level that the man was telling the truth, that he had an answer.

"Kushina Uzumaki was the last Jinchuuriki to hold the Kyuubi no Yoko."

Naruto had once read Jiraiya's books. They'd always seemed so cheesy, so lame. One of them had included a big revelation, a surprise for the hero described as world-shattering and life-changing. He'd snorted and tossed it aside. Revelations weren't like that in real life.

He was wrong.

"What? What did you just say?" He couldn't believe it, wouldn't. The Kyuubi attacked the village the day he was born. His mother died in childbirth the day he was born. His mother was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. That meant his birth was…

"I cannot claim to know the exact details of that night. No one can, save for those who were present when it occurred, and to this day only one may live." Naruto's head shot up, intent eyes returned to the aging warrior.

"The seals which trapped the demon fox within your mother became weaker during the birthing process. Her status as a Jinchuuriki was not well known, but some of the select few who knew of her condition were also aware of the threats posed to the seal. Your father and the Third Hokage's wife were among them, and both were masters of sealing techniques. However, something went wrong: One man, a powerful warrior calling himself Madara Uchiha."

It took all of his willpower not to reel back at the name. Madara. The man who had attacked his village. The man who worked alongside Pain and the Akatsuki. The man who, though Danzou had not flat out confirmed it, had been responsible for the deaths of his mother, father, and many of those loved by his closest friends. There were few people in the world who Naruto could claim to hate, but there was now one name which had solidified its position at the top of that list.

_Madara Uchiha._ He would die. Maybe not today, maybe not this year, but he would die, and it would be at Naruto's hands.

"This man, the Uchiha who betrayed this village and attacked the First Hokage, forcibly removed the Kyuubi from your mother and led it on a rampage against our people. As you know, the Third and Fourth Hokages led the battle to push it back. I only learned of the details afterwards, from Hiruzen himself, but you will have to settle for secondhand knowledge." Naruto nodded, unable to form the words.

"Your father could not allow Madara and the Kyuubi to continue. Even with the might of the entire village and his summoned allies, the Kyuubi was pushing our forces back. So your father teleported himself and the Kyuubi to your mother, who was barely clinging to life, and doing what she could to protect yours. She possessed a unique chakra that made her ideal as the Kyuubi's host, one which allowed her to create chains of chakra capable of restraining it, even if only for a short time. Your father knew that their time was limited, and so he chose someone with whom he believed he could trust the power of the Kyuubi." The tears began to appear again, to pass through the shock as Naruto understood, _truly_ understood what he was being told.

"You. His only son. The last legacy of the Namikaze and Uzumaki. The Fourth used an immensely powerful seal to permanently bind half of the Kyuubi's chakra where it could not be reached at the cost of his own life, and sealed all that remained within you. So tell me," He stood, hunched on his sword as though it were a cane, his features…not quite gentle, but perhaps in camaraderie as one man who had lost a loved one through sacrifice to another.

"Do you still hate him?"

_No._

"No."

"Then I have nothing more to say on this matter. I think we have discussed enough for tonight. I'm afraid I know little of their personal lives, so I cannot tell you any stories or facts beyond their careers."

"I understand." He needed some time alone anyway. Time to process; time to mourn properly. Naruto turned to leave, stopped only just as he reached the door.

"There _is_ one thing that I shall leave you with before you go." He turned, hand shooting up to grab the object coming towards him. He flipped it upright, looked it over, and turned to Danzou in confusion. It must have shown on his face.

"A tool of your father's. A special form of kunai used by him, and him alone. I felt it was appropriate."

"…Thank you." Danzou acknowledged it with a nod, finally allowing Naruto to return to his home.

* * *

**Two weeks earlier…**

"Hm?" He pressed upward on the hilt, letting loose another chuckle when the young boy's eyes narrowed slightly in frustration, though without any true signs of pain. "And what might that be?"

"You're betrayal wasn't the first."

And the snakelike eyes widened as a familiar voice spoke quietly from behind him.

"Long time no see, Orochimaru."

"That voice…I know that voice." He turned around to glance at the newcomer, double-taking as he caught sight of just who it was, certain his eyes must have been deceiving him.

"Wait! You're-" The cry was cut off as a hand shrouded in flame stabbed through his abdomen, sending a stream of crimson splashing across the boy against the pillar before the serpentine member of the Legendary Three could react. "B-but how…you…aren't you Sa-"

The fist twisted inside of the infamous shinobi's chest, forcing him to stop as though liquidy coughs drove another spray of blood from his lips. Even though it had only been a few moments since the struggle had begun he seemed far weaker, paler than before.

"I'm sorry to cut the fun short so early, but I'm afraid I've run out of patience. Good night, Orochimaru of the Sannin." An inhuman screech filled the air as the legendary shinobi's body was enshrouded with flames. The man—the boy really—sauntered over to the annoyed Uchiha and ripped out the Kusanagi with a wet crunch. Bones cracked and muscle tore away from his fellow conspirer's palms at the action, a smirk mirroring that of the Sannin's passing across his lips for a moment.

"Well, that was rather fun eh?"

"Have you not had enough games?" Itachi's face had gone white, eyes finally showing the signs of exhaustion concealed when Orochimaru was present. He dropped to a knee with a grunt, hands resting lifelessly as red streams flowed to the earth.

"Oh, you're no fun. Though I suppose I wouldn't be very pleasant if my hands were falling apart either." The younger boy ignored the jab, forcing himself to stand again.

"I take it you've already made contact with Danzou-sama."

"But of course, Ita-chan. He was pleased to hear from us—"

"Don't call me that."

"-and I'm sure he has plenty of tasks ahead for his little _pawns_ in the future."

"With the way you've been acting, everything you've told me, I assume you've concocted some kind of plan to deal with our mutual enemy?" He flexed a hand, wincing at every movement and eliciting a sigh from the other boy.

"Would you just sit still for a moment? Here, give me those." The light-haired shinobi raised a hand, a slight glow enveloping the Uchiha's palms as healing chakra ran through his flesh, bones repairing themselves, muscle and skin stitching back together.

"As for my plan? I don't have much in the way of a plan, to be honest." He released a low, rumbling chuckle. With a tilt of his head, three figures dropped from the trees above them, standing slightly behind their master. Itachi's eyes widened in a rare, open display of emotion; though whether in shock or terror he wasn't certain. He knew these people. The first two were clad in the famous armor they'd worn in their warring days, nearly unstoppable and revered by friend and foe alike. The third, a young woman, was dressed in an elaborate kimono. Her fiery red hair was twisted into two buns and decorated with seal tags, topped by a shimmering tiara. Any shinobi that had lived through the Great Wars, or even paid the slightest attention to the history of those wars, would have recognized these people…and likewise would have recognized that they should have been dead for decades.

"But I figured I'd start here," A twisted smirk etched itself across Kabuto Yakushi's features as he gestured to the Senju and Uzumaki trio—present at the courtesy of the infamous forbidden technique created by the Second Hokage—with his free hand.

"And see where things go from there."

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AN: There's the next one. Like I said, my original work might make updates pretty scarce but I'll try to fit them in here and there. I hope that there have been some visible improvements in my writing and, above all else, that you guys enjoyed.


	11. Insomniacs

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: So, here goes another one. For any "Oath" readers, it's currently going through a number of revisions, especially on the earlier chapters.

* * *

_The Fourth Hokage is my father._ Even a week later, it was nothing short of amazing. Almost unbelievable. Naruto flipped the three-pronged kunai in the air, catching it with a practiced hand just as the minute hand on the clock ticked into midnight. Surely anyone who learned what he'd learned could be excused for feeling a bit distracted. Now if only he could convince Iruka of that without completely going back on his word (and triggering a certain seal). Then again, his sensei still probably wouldn't accept "I found out my father was actually the Hokage who sealed away the Kyuubi" as an excuse anyway. The man needed to loosen up a bit.

"How do you keep getting in here? Sneaky bastard, aren't you." He glanced to his left in the nearly pitch-black room, where Danzou now leaned against the far wall beside one of his cabinets.

"You noticed my presence so early? Impressive. Watching silently from the shadows is a specialty that ROOT has come to master. It wouldn't hurt for you to take after our example."

"So what're you here for?" He caught the kunai once more before setting it beside his alarm clock and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, dragging himself up to sit in a relaxed position. "Any other life-changers up your sleeves?"

"I may have a few. But I wish to ask you a few questions of my own before giving you any further information." Naruto cocked his head to the side as Danzou flipped on the lights, and gave the older man a once-over while his eyes adjusted to the change.

"Eh, seems fair enough. Guess I owe you for the last one anyway."

"That sense of fair play could get you into a great deal of trouble someday."

If only he knew how true those words could be.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"What do you know of the Uchiha Clan?" Naruto drew back as if stung. He knew the guy was in some kind of underground organization, so he must have been looking for something specific about the clan. Maybe something that a friend of the child of said clan's head might know.

"…You, uh, you mean the ones with the freaky eyes right? The ones they make go all red and weird, and they have that goofy symbol, and th—"

"I'm not asking you to play these games of yours. Make no mistake, attempting to distract me, to play the fool—it is a fine strategy. Well…it would have been, were I another of the mindless drones who cannot see beyond what they wish to see. You are far more cunning than most give you credit for, Uzumaki Naruto. The Hokage has realized this. I have realized this. Refuse to answer or tell me the truth, I can accept either, but do not waste my time."

"Uchiha, huh? I know that Sasuke's dad is in charge. They act like they're the best clan in the village, kind of like a lot of those Hyuuga guys. Don't know if it's true, but a lot of people say they've got some of the strongest fighters in the village, so maybe it is. Or I guess it could just be people talking. These are the same people who say that I _am_ the stupid fox, you know, so they might just not understand it. And…Uchiha Madara was the big leader of theirs around the First Hokage's time. They have a special Kekkei Genkai that makes their eyes do that thing they do. I think I've heard people call it the Sharingan."

"So you have a basic understanding of the clan." Danzou absently tapped at the scar on his chin, visibly unimpressed. "But most of that is common knowledge among shinobi of our village. That's good. Is there anything else?"

"Like?"

"Fighting styles, internal conflicts, political preferences, and generally anything of significant use."

Well, there it was. For someone so skilled at subtlety and manipulating things from the shadows, one would think he would occasionally seem less…straightforward. Or maybe it was just him. If he'd really been watching, he must have realized that Uzumaki Naruto did not respond well to beating around the bush.

"…I can't tell you about the clan, but I know Sasuke's good with shuriken. He has really good Taijutsu skills, and he's mostly learning fire techniques. I know that they use a certain fire jutsu for some kind of initiation thing when a kid gets old enough, so I'd guess that's what most of them have for a nature affinity. And his parents are really strict on training. Their last son was a lot like that too, from what I hear."

"Good. Very good."

"Any reason you're pumping me for information that you already seem to know?"

"…Some time ago, you came upon a rather unpleasant scene near the Nakano River. Ever since that moment, I began observing you far more closely than before. It is only after these observations, and our previous agreement regarding your seal, that I felt it would be for the best if you knew the circumstances of that night."

"Huh? What are you on about?" _What does Itachi have to do with this?_ Could stopping Itachi have changed something he didn't expect? Had he made some kind of move already? He hadn't thought that he might actually speed things up. _No, no. Just relax. You don't even know what he's talking about yet._

"Some guy was getting attacked and Fuzzy-chan went nuts."

"Uchiha Itachi was one of my operatives." Naruto couldn't help the way his eyes widened, the way everything in the room had gone silent and still.

"Ah yes, I see you recognize the name. I admit, when I told him of his mission, I didn't expect him to begin so soon. Certainly not in such a public location."

"His…his mission?" Was Danzou really saying what he thought he was? The Third Hokage wouldn't have accepted that. Konoha's leaders wouldn't have ordered something like that.

"That night, I went to the Third Hokage's office to make him see reason. The Uchiha Clan needed to be dealt with."

"What do you mean _dealt with_? Are you out of your freaking mind?" Eliminating an entire clan! What could he have possibly been thinking? How could they expect to get away with something like that? But then…they had gotten away with it. In his future, they'd…

"And so you've begun jumping to conclusions, just like a child. Perhaps you are _not_ as mature as I believed."

_Shut up!_ "Mature? You're telling me you wanted to slaughter Sasuke and Shisui's whole family! An entire clan full of innocent people!" And he snorted. The monster was actually _amused_ at what he was saying, what he was talking about doing.

"Innocent people…is that what you truly believe?"

Naruto had to pause at that. Uchiha Madara. He was part of the Uchiha. And he'd always thought that Itachi was some kind of monster, and sure some of them had been just as mean to him as the other villagers.

_So…_"I mean maybe not innocent, not all of them, but it's not like they deserved what you're talking about." Just because they weren't all good didn't suddenly mean that they needed to die. Even if a few of them were true monsters, that shouldn't have condemned the entire clan. Danzou only sighed, and Naruto felt a tinge of anger at how _disappointed_ he sounded, as if he'd expected Naruto to agree with him on the whole thing.

"I was mistaken. You were not prepared for this. But since I doubt you'll just let this go…"

_Damn right I'm not letting it go, you one-eyed bastard!_

"…allow me to grant you a brief experience in the _real_ world of shinobi." He'd heard that line before from others, people like Zabuza, who just viewed people in terms of tools. Weapons, like he and Haku and Gaara and so many others were supposed to be.

"Yeah, I'm listening."

"Ten years ago, Uchiha Madara attacked this village with the Kyuubi. How strange, I found it, that the majority of the Uchiha were completely absent that night. How coincidental that on the night of the attack—an attack at the hands of a being which all historical records indicate could be manipulated by the Sharingan, a bloodline trait unique to the Uchiha Clan, and that was often employed by Madara—their clan full of _elite_ warriors took almost no part whatsoever in such a conflict. And so I ensured that a loyal agent of this village, a young but immensely talented boy who was trusted implicitly by the Uchiha, would act as a spy for the Hokage and I within their ranks."

_No._ He must have been lying. If Itachi was a spy, then he would have known what was going on. He could have told Danzou that he was mistaken. But at the same time, if this man was telling the truth, then what did that mean? What did it mean for the Itachi he'd know, the Sasuke he'd known?

"What are you saying?"

"Would you like to know what he discovered?"

_No._ "Yes."

"The heads of the Uchiha Clan were displeased that we had kept such a close eye on them after the Kyuubi's attack. Certain members were affronted that anyone would dare question their status in the village. Certain members…" His eye opened by just a fraction, his image somehow terrifying despite his elderly features. "Were planning to begin a coup d'état."

The truth pierced him with more force than the Chidori ever had.

"This is…no. No, you're lying." He'd wanted to go back to the lie. Go back to the world where Uchiha Itachi was just some monster, where his village couldn't have done something so utterly horrible. "They wouldn't have…"

"Believe what you wish, but Itachi never gave us reason to doubt his word. They were fully prepared to hold a violent revolt against this village, and to seize control. With each passing day, they swayed more and more of their clansmen to the cause."

And he should have realized it, should have seen something wrong. If not in Itachi and Sasuke, then in Shisui. He should have been able to tell on those rare days when Shisui wouldn't be able to spend time with him, or Sasuke, or anyone else because he was so obviously troubled, but played it off with the same air of cheer and invincibility that Naruto himself had used for so many years before people began to honestly accept him.

"You could have talked it out. You could've done something, _anything_ but what you're telling me." There was still the old man. He must have been against it. He wouldn't have, _couldn't_ have agreed to what Danzou was suggesting. But through his calm exterior, his almost pitying sigh, Naruto could see that Danzou was telling the truth. He felt neither regret nor compassion, but it was the simple, honest truth all the same.

"You think we simply leapt into the decision? That other options were not considered first? The Third Lord Hokage _did_ attempt to reach a peaceful solution. To do otherwise is not in his nature." For a brief moment, even knowing there was more to the story, Naruto felt the pressure in his chest lighten somewhat. Of course he wouldn't. The old man was kind, loving. He would never resort to killing if there were other options.

"He knew the strong feelings the Uchiha were experiencing. Understood them well. That ability to understand and sympathize with others is what has made him such a beloved leader. He knew the plots they were considering. He tried to negotiate…but those negotiations were failing. They refused to give any ground of their own. No matter how he may have tried to come to an agreement, they were unwilling to do the same. And so I made a decision."

"You ordered him to kill them all." It wasn't necessary, but to actually speak the words…it was real, somehow. In the same way that telling himself, out loud, that his father was Minato Namikaze had become real, so to had the undeniable truth: Uchiha Itachi had never betrayed Konohagakure no Sato. He had served it loyally until the bitter end, at the hands of his very own brother.

"Yes." The silence was almost painful, and then: "You wish to be Hokage, do you not?"

"Well, yeah." The question caught him off guard. "It's always been a dream of mine."

"Then let me ask you: Did you think it would be easy? That it was simply a matter of being stronger and faster than everyone else? That it was all about receiving respect?"

"No, of course not, but—"

"The Hokage must sometimes make the decision between what is easy, and what is _necessary_ for the greater good of the village. Was my choice the pleasant one? No. But if the destruction of a single clan can prevent the outbreak of a civil war—a war that would no doubt be viewed as a weakness to be preyed upon by our enemies in other lands—then I would not hesitate to make that same decision again. Would the Hokage have agreed? Perhaps not on that night, no, but if it came down to subduing a rebellion and doing what was _nice_, even he would choose the former."

Naruto could understand that. It pained him to say it, but on some level, the older Shinobi was right in a twisted way. If it came to the village or killing someone else, then he would choose the village. He _had_ chosen the village. He'd been perfectly prepared to kill Gaara, or Orochimaru, or those from the Akatsuki, and even now he harbored a desire to end the life of Uchiha Madara.

_But_…"The _entire_ clan? It just seems…It's so wrong. They couldn't all be in on it."

"It is unlikely that they were. Some were too old, others too young, others too unreliable in battle. However, you must understand that there was only one way to ensure that they would never become a threat again."

"Well I _don't_ understand!" He could feel his voice cracking, throat dry from the bursts of angered speech since their argument began. Why couldn't the man just _feel_ something? No matter what he said, he was just—just so damned _calm_ about the entire matter, as though they were discussing the weather over tea, rather than the slaughter of an entire bloodline.

"You have no experience in this field, so I should not be surprised that you're unable to see the bigger picture. Individual clans are not forgiving. Even if we were only to kill those who were directly responsible for commanding the rebellion, hatred and contempt would fester among those who survived them. Emotions lead to hatred. Hatred leads to violence and war. These things birth stronger, deadlier emotions, and create a cycle of hatred. This cycle is a storm, a force of nature, impossible to stop once it has begun to rage in earnest. And the Uchiha…they have detested those who followed the Senju—the clan of the First and Second Lord Hokages—for many generations. Even now, many live among them in whom resentment towards this village lingers still. Truly, they are a clan of avengers."

_A clan of…_That much, he could tell, was true. But Sasuke had always had a reason, a purpose for seeking his vengeance. Itachi had murdered his family, disgraced the Uchiha name, taken his childhood. _If Sasuke knew that Itachi was innocent, that it was all ordered by_—And that's when it hit him. What if Sasuke _had_ known? He'd killed Itachi. When the Raikage had called for the summit that would never meet, reports from representatives of their village had placed Sasuke in Akatsuki colors. When he'd arrived to join the battle with Madara, Naruto had simply dismissed them as rumors. But even if only for a moment, they had spoken, and Sasuke had seemed so _familiar_ with the older Uchiha…

Had he been there to avenge his brother? Was it Madara he wished to destroy, or Konoha? Or did he want to destroy everything?

"However, I do not believe it is necessary any longer. I suppose I have you to thank for that, which is why I wanted you to know the entire story." The words broke Naruto free of his memories, and the confusion must have shown on his face, because Danzou launched into an explanation.

"Your intervention was…unexpected. Itachi was believed to be among the most loyal members of the clan. He and Shisui were unquestionably among the most talented in their ranks. Itachi's betrayal was demoralizing, and only served to reinforce Shisui's loyalty to Konoha upon realizing that Itachi had become a 'traitor' to our village. They knew that we knew of their plans. They knew that their two most skilled warriors were no longer at their side." He tapped a few fingers against the sword he was always leaning on idly, something Naruto was beginning to interpret as an indication that the older man was pleased with something.

"They also realized that Shisui now owed you a debt, and that for whatever reason, you had chosen to protect him. The implication is that his loyalty is yours, and vice versa, meaning that facing Konoha would mean facing both Shisui of the Body Flicker and the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. Neither Sarutobi nor I could have arranged such a perfectly efficient and bloodless solution. Truly, it was an unprecedented convenience."

"Well, glad I could be a useful little _convenience_ for you."

"There is no need for the hostility. The pleasure of knowing you halted a massacre and full-scale war without the slightest bit of spilled blood through sheer force of luck is likely offset by everything else I've told you."

"Y-yeah, well…" If he was trying to play to his ego, then it wasn't going to work. Not totally. The way he worded it _did_ sound pretty impressive.

"You are correct though. I will not lie; you are a tool to me."

"Glad to know I'm so loved."

"It isn't a personal matter. You hold an incredible amount of power within you. That power acts as a balance between the Five Great Nations. The more powerful the Jinchuuriki, the less willing others are to attack the village holding that Jinchuuriki. All shinobi are but tools in the hands of politicians and commanders. Even Hiruzen, for all his kindness, must steel himself and use Konohagakure's numbers, jutsu, and any other advantage as weapons against our enemies. The difference is that he is willing to invest in personal attachments to his tools, whereas I am—"

"A cold, heartless monster?"

"In simpler terms, yes, that is precisely what I am."

"So what, you pan to make me one of your tools now? Use me like one of your own shinobi?"

"Use you as a tool? Certainly."

"It's really hard not to hate your guts, you know that?"

"So I've heard. Regardless, I will not treat you as I do my own men. Even if Hiruzen would stand for it, and he would not, I doubt I could truly train you as an operative of ROOT. You're too old, your individual beliefs and feelings to thoroughly engraved upon your heart. I would, however, present you with the offer to serve as an agent of mine outside of the organization."

"Two words: Fu—"

"Once again, you jump to conclusions. If you wish to be Hokage one day, you should consider the option of listening to an offer in its entirety before simply dismissing it." Danzou had a point. He couldn't ignore the thought that it sucked, but the truth was that the man was good at making points when it suited him, and they were frighteningly logical. Then again, considering this whole "emotionless tool" mindset, maybe that should've been expected.

"Fine, fine. I'll listen to your stupid offer."

"I have already told you about your father." Naruto pouted at that and mumbled out a not-so-heartfelt thanks, which Danzou acknowledged with a nod.

"And I have already placed that seal on you." This time the nod was Naruto's. Admittedly, not one of his most well thought out decisions. Still, what was done was done, and Danzou _was_ being remarkably patient, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to lighten up. He could go back to hating the man once he'd had more time to let the whole "Itachi isn't really a psychopath" thing sink in.

"You would, upon graduation, occasionally have to complete a mission or task on behalf of ROOT. Being only an unofficial associate you, like any Jonin of Konohagakure, would have the option to refuse these tasks without repercussion. While most of ROOT's goals require things that you would likely frown upon, there are a number of issues my men have to deal with that take away their time, but which I'm sure you would find acceptable."

"What am I getting out of this? And where's the catch?" The deal seemed reasonable enough so far. Which was exactly the problem, considering the man who was offering it.

"You would receive training. You have been taught enough by your current teachers that I'm sure only supplementary Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu would be necessary. This training would consist of other skills utilized by ROOT and the ANBU Black Ops: Infiltration, interrogation, tracking, surveillance, assassination, basic medical training…all unofficial, but far more advanced than anything they teach you at the academy. As I understand it, you cut more than a few of those classes anyway."

_Hey, that's not…_Okay, that was actually pretty spot-on. Class attendance had never been one of his bigger priorities. He was more into the fun things, like turning the Hokage Monument into the world's biggest graffiti wall.

"I'm still waiting for that catch." There had to be something more.

"I will not ask you to overthrow the Hokage, or put this village at risk. Neither would suit my purposes. The Third Hokage is not fond of ROOT, but he knows of our existence and acknowledges the necessity of an organization to take care of the village's less respectable matters. Threatening the village is the polar opposite of our objective. Both would only serve to turn the opinion of our people against this organization. What I ask of you is simple, yet may seem impossible at the same time."

"What is it?"

"There is an organization that threatens the stability of the entire shinobi world, and the Five Great Nations in particular. This organization is led by none other than Uchiha Madara himself. I am uncertain of their exact goals and methods, but the world will not be able to stand against him divided as it is. What we need…is the unification of all the Great Nations. My condition is not one that I could truly enforce, if you wish to break it. I am growing old. I cannot be certain that I will see the end of whatever may come. What I request of you in return is this: Make a genuine attempt to understand ROOT's methods and principles, and when the time comes, be prepared to put the good of the whole over the good of the individual." He opened his remaining eye to meet Naruto's own gaze, the younger boy bewildered that the man would request _this_ of all things.

"Are these conditions acceptable?"

* * *

Storms had never been a problem for Temari. The sounds of pattering rain above her head, here in her room, didn't bother her in the slightest. Nor was she bothered by the flash of light, or the rumble of thunder that followed seconds later. This kind of activity was far from common in Sunagakure, and if anything they were more of an enjoyable relief from the immense heat of the average day. Their occasional appearances were actually quite useful during the night, as was the case for this particular rain, as the sounds were almost always able to lull her into a peaceful sleep.

That is, at least, until Kankuro became frightened enough to storm into her room and beg to come into bed with her. He was a teenage boy. He had his pride. However, it had become apparent some time ago that he drew the line at the appearance of a certain natural phenomenon: Thunderstorms. A childhood fear that he'd yet to outgrow, even now they could send him diving for cover, trembling with terror the whole way. Of course, it would be far easier to get her sympathy if he would just man up and admit it instead of insisting on these ridiculous excuses. Especially if she even so much as insinuated that he was…

"Hey, don't treat me like some kind of baby!" _Aaaannnnd there it is_. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't scared of the stagh!"

A crash of thunder interrupted his boasts, the vibration of the walls sending him leaping under the covers next to his big sister. Yes, there were limits to even Kankuro's stubborn bravado, and those limits were just trampled over in the most obvious way possible. With a roll of the eyes and a sigh, she scooted over to give him more room.

"Fine, fine, you can hide in here."

"I'm not hiding!" It would have been more convincing if it wasn't muffled from under the oh-so-powerful protection of the blankets.

"Of course not. You're just waiting for another lightning bolt so you can spring a surprise strike from under the covers. And your annoyed sister." His head popped out for a moment, face drawn into a scowl.

"I thought it might've scared you and you'd need a big tough guy nearby to make it better."

"Oh, I'm just trembling. Whatever would I do without my valiant little brother to save me from the great and terrible storm?"

"Yeah, just like that! That's how it is!"

"Whatever." She rolled on to her side, away from her brother and towards the door. "Good gr-g-Gaara, what are you doing here?"

He stood in the entrance, cocking his head at her question. It took a moment to realize that he might have taken offense at the wording and immediately moved to correct it.

"Not that we don't want you here, it's just-I mean-Well, you normally go off somewhere alone at night, don't you?"

"I was…" His eyes rolled over the slightly trembling form under the covers, latched onto their rather aggravated sister as though his life depended on it. "Scared of the storm."

He was pretty certain that he'd never seen a look quite that skeptical before in his life, and most definitely never from Temari.

"You were scared." Her voice completely deadpanned. "You're telling me that you, Gaara of the Sand, were afraid of the storm. The same kind of storm that you, Gaara of the Sand, have sat around on the roof to watch more times than anyone can count."

"…Yes."

"S-see sis? Gaara's here because he wants me to watch out for him too, just like you did! H-h-he's scared of the thunder just like I figured you would be!"

"Yeah right, Kankuro."

"…Right."

Temari stared blankly at the redhead as he moved to the other side of the shaking boy, set his gourd by the edge of the bed, and slowly slid down next to him. While Kankuro didn't latch on to the younger boy as he did his sister, the amount of nervous jittering from the brunette had dropped considerably the moment that Gaara touched the mattress. So maybe Kankuro wasn't quite used to this newer, less homicidal Gaara. But in his terrified twelve year old mind the homicidal sand demon housed inside their possibly psychotic little brother was infinitely less terrifying than the perfectly harmless sound; one that resulted from something that would have to surpass astronomical odds to harm them in their current location. Was there _ever_ a family as dysfunctional as theirs?

_Figures. But what's this crap about being scared? Gaara's never-_and that's when it hit her. She must've been too tired to notice it before, but as her mind began to clear the haze of sleep, the answer became clear with it. If everything up to this point hadn't confirmed her suspicions, what she'd just seen was the last push needed to finally brace the notion in her mind. Gaara wasn't afraid of storms. He hadn't been afraid of, well, much of anything in his entire life. She wasn't afraid of them either. Kankuro, on the other hand, was downright terrified of the phenomena. Kankuro wasn't as afraid with Gaara there, likely because his sand was nigh impenetrable when he wished it so. Gaara knew this. She knew this. Kankuro knew this. Gaara was in her room in the middle of the night during a storm that didn't bother him in the least, and he was there because he knew that Kankuro was frightened—because he knew his presence would change that.

Gaara had gone out of the way during his eternally sleepless nights just to make his brother feel better.

Gaara _cared_ enough to do that for his brother.

"You two should get to sleep." A snore from Kankuro told them he was already there.

_Ugh._ If he was just going to go to sleep in a few minutes, had this entire event really been worth it?

"…Goodnight, Gaara."

"Hn." Her last sight as she allowed herself to drift to sleep was the image of Gaara staring off into his own little world, face content as she'd ever seen, and the answer was clear.

Yes. Yes it had.

When she awoke several hours later, the storm long since passed, he was gone. She dragged herself out of bed, knowledge from previous stormy nights telling her that once he actually managed to get to sleep, Kankuro would probably all but toss himself off the other side of the bed. Maybe it just made sense. He definitely couldn't go to the Kazekage, and Gaara was out of the question (Up until these last few weeks, anyway), so he went to the closest thing he had to a mother.

_But if he's still dragging himself over to my place once I'm old enough to move out, he better expect an ass-kicking, storm or no._ Oh, who was she kidding? With the way he looked up to her (And she knew he did, no matter how he tried to play it off), she'd baby the man until her dying day. But for now, it was her other brother that was grabbing her attention. The storm was over, and he always seemed to lose interest once the rain stopped falling. Even the way he was, there had always been some childish fascination with the rain, she assumed because of his unnatural connection to the desert through his sand.

_Might as well start with the obvious_. His room. It wasn't as though he had anywhere else to go, save for his odd disappearances into the desert every now and then, and for all his curiosity about the rain he was rarely inclined to go out into the sands afterwards. She gave a light knock on his door, opening it with an ease that surprised even her. She was getting far too used to not-homicidal Gaara.

"Gaara, are you…in…?" _What in the world?_ the wall directly across from the entrance was smothered in papers. Maps, official reports, profiles of Suna shinobi, and countless other documents that probably shouldn't have been taken from their places. She strode in without thinking, eyes dancing from piece to piece as she tried to decipher what her little brother had been up to.

"I've been visiting the archives often in these last few weeks." She jumped as the rough, light voice spoke from her left. "There are…more."

"More?" _Is he talking about…?_

"More. Like me. Jinchuuriki. Hosts to the beasts. It should have been obvious from the start." A dry chuckle slipped past his lips. "Nine exist, yet there are no reports of attacks more than perhaps once or twice in a generation. Of course they were being sealed."

"So this is what's been, um…" Would suggesting that he'd been acting strangely annoy him?

"You've noticed it, haven't you? My actions lately have not been normal. They confuse you. Make you nervous. I can see it in your eyes each day." She couldn't deny that it was true. But the question wasn't if she felt that way, but rather whether or not feeling that way would be offensive.

"I'm not—that is, I didn't mean to—"

"There's no need for that, Temari." She went silent. The other words had barely registered, hardly made any sense at all, but her name was clear and simple. Nothing could have prepared her for those that followed. "I won't hurt you. Never again. Not while this body remains mine. I'm…sorry."

And that was it. He said it. Actually _said_ the words. Gaara was many things—sadistic, violent, insane, prone to fits of rage—but a liar had never been one of them. It wasn't just her imagination, wasn't just a string of coincidences, wasn't just a flicker of hope in the back of her mind that maybe, just maybe, he was becoming more stable. It was solid, and it was real. Gaara felt something for her. Maybe it was love. Maybe it was like. Maybe it was one of the thousands of other things it could have been. What mattered was that, for whatever reason, her…brother…didn't hate her.

"Not what you expected? I'm not surprised. My entire life, I've been little more than a tool for the Kazekage, for the village. With nothing to kill, I had no reason to exist. I wonder…how many of them feel the same?"

"Them? You mean the others like you?"

"Hm. These," He raised his arms to the maps and reports lining the walls "are their known locations. Iwa. Kumo. Konoha. Kiri. Taki. Their identities are more difficult to come by. Most of those who have had contact with them are dead. Those who aren't…they have aged greatly." Their information would very likely be out of date.

"Do you…I mean, would you want to meet them? If you could?"

"Yes."

"You know the Kazekage wouldn't stand for that. I mean, he only even lets us out of the village for missions, or for trips like we had to Konoha. And that was just because we had to get ready for the exams coming up."

"I know. But someday…I will."

And somehow, she knew that he would. Because no matter how different he might have been lately, one thing about Gaara hadn't changed: When he wanted something, truly desired it, then it was as good as his.

* * *

"And how did he react?" His voice was light, raspy, far more so than usual. This body was failing him already. Yet another prediction far more true than could have been natural.

"Exactly as you predicted Orochimaru-sama. A simple Genjutsu for any specialist to break, or at least, easy for for one who already knew that it was coming." Kabuto finished his examination of the older man and stepped back from the bed. "Have you had any more of these…flashes…lately?"

"No." The response was broken by a surge of watery coughs, a tint of blood forming at the corner of the serpentine man's lips. "They come randomly, fragmented."

"Yet they've proven rather accurate so far." The words drew a smile to the older shinobi's face. Even in his weakened state it would appear he never ceased to continue plotting.

"Yes. And the Second's jutsu, did it work properly?"

"Once again, exactly as you said it would, Orochimaru-sama. I must admit it was incredible to actually see the former Hokages face to face, even if only in that state."

"Yes, they are rather impressive aren't they?"

"Very much so. They'll prove perfect for this scheme of yours, no doubt." He began to back through the open door. His mentor leaned back against the headboard, eyes drifting closed. "Now you should get some rest. I've nearly found a suitable body for the next exchange, and you've been far too active lately as it is given the condition of your last host."

"Patronizing, Kabuto-kun."

"My apologies, Sensei. I've just been feeling a bit energetic lately. I don't know what you saw that convinced you to give me your DNA, but ever since you gave me this—" He lifted his left arm, revealing the shining white, scale-like flesh beneath the sleeve "I've felt more alive than ever, like I have a true purpose now."

"So easily entertained. And so very intent on keeping information from one he claims is his master…is it any wonder I like you so much, Kabuto-kun?"

"I suppose not, Sensei. I'll leave you to your rest."

"Yes, rest…"

As Orochimaru slipped into a dreamless sleep, Kabuto took care to shut the door as silently as possible. He worked his way through the noiseless corridors of yet another of Orochimaru's many bases without bothering to pay attention to his surroundings. By now, finding his way around the maze of pathways was more or less instinct. Tomorrow he needed to examine the rest of the facility's prisoners, see if there were any suitable candidates for the transference ritual. He _would_ need to get Orochimaru another body soon. Perhaps…

"Quite the little actor, eh Yakushi-san?" The gruff, somewhat muffled voice spoke from the darkness ahead of him as he stepped into the laboratory and flipped the lights on. Not even the slightest bit startled, Kabuto smiled cheerfully at the familiarly disguised man.

"It's one of many talents I've been gifted with, my friend."

"Clearly. Is he suspicious?"

"No more so than he always has been. I think he likes it—not knowing exactly what's going on in my head, I mean. He's especially pleased that the meeting with Itachi went as planned."

"That does sound like the Orochimaru I knew."

"Pleasantries aside, the fact that you're here tells me your mission has been concluded, one way or another. What did he think of my offer?"

"The boy was…intrigued. Especially once he saw just what you were capable of providing. I'm going to be working with him for some time, so I'll make sure to keep an eye on his activities while he mulls it over."

"That's good." Kabuto craned his neck, listening to the footsteps from behind him. His guest leaned to look around him, wondering who else might have been there at such an hour. Most of Orochimaru's experiments, at least as far as he was aware, were typically locked away when not serving their master. A young boy quickly appeared in the doorway, no more than twelve at the most, with long white hair split by an odd zigzag pattern and drawn back into a ponytail, as well as two distinct red dots on his forehead.

"Yakushi-sama?"

"Ah, Kimi-kun, so you're back. What do you have for me?"

"I've retrieved what you ordered. It was exactly where you said it would be."

"Another one already? You really are on the move."

"It will still be several years before I can put the true plan into motion, but I suppose you could say things are proceeding at a steady pace so far."

"Yakushi-sama, who…" Kimimaro paused to clear his throat to cover up the informal tone brought on by his surprise. It wasn't every day that his mentor had a guest. "Might I ask who this is?"

"Did I not introduce you? How rude of me. Kimimaro, I would like you to meet an associate of mine. Allow me to introduce to you one of the greatest—if not the greatest—Puppet Masters on the planet: Sasori of the Red Sand."

* * *

AN: So…hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	12. Transience

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: This one's a bit different than the usual fare.

* * *

"Adjust your grip—right hand higher." Naruto barely dodged the stab as Danzou practically danced around him, leaping over his attempt to counter with the flat-tipped tantō, provided courtesy of Root.

_Damn he's fast._ Naruto ducked back again as the sword passed above his nose, bringing his blade up for another slash. Danzou's blade switched directions without pause to effortlessly flick aside the attack, dodging the kunai that Naruto slipped from his waist pouch in the process. Leaping backwards himself to put some distance between them, Naruto took a moment to catch his breath and observe the far older shinobi.

_How does and old man with one good arm and one eye move so freaking quick?_ He cursed his body, still smaller and more feeble at the age of ten even with all of the extra work he'd put into his physical exercises. Unfortunately, he'd only hit a bit of a growth spurt around a year before he graduated, and it still wasn't much. He was nearly fifteen when he'd finally hit the mark that put him above some of his friends. On the other hand, there _was_ a noticeable difference between how he was now and how he'd been then. These sessions had been almost daily occurrences for several months now, mostly since he didn't actually need any of the practice time—time that academy students were expected to devote to what they'd learned in class—for the skills they were teaching in the academy.

But still…

"You're too slow. I would expect an individual of your…_unique stature_ to be more agile."

Naruto eye twitched, even as he followed the earlier advice and readjusted his grip. So it was cracks at his height now, was it? _Screw you, old man. Let me call up Sage Mode once I'm back in shape again and we'll see how slow you think I am._

"Oh yeah? Then try this on for size!" With a single movement a dozen clones began to advance on Danzou, whose only reaction was a slight tilt of the head.

_And he's still not freaking surprised!_ What did it take to get to this guy? He joined the clones in sending another barrage of kunai at the man, followed up by a full-scale charge. They might not have been able to take a hit, but they'd always been effective for simple swarming techniques. Sure, perhaps it hadn't worked on that shinobi from Otogakure who held him back when he'd tried to bring Sasuke home, but that guy was young and a bit of a freak, much like him. Danzou was—

Using some kind of jutsu on his blade. He made a swinging motion, and then the clones were gone and there was a sharp pain as something barreled into him and what in the world just did the old man just do?

"Too slow."

"W-what was that?" It looked almost like Asuma's techniques, the ones he'd shown him during his wind element training, but the wind was more visible and definitely didn't have the same effects. Danzou relaxed, lowering his blade.

"One of many wind enhanced tool techniques. It allows an individual to flow chakra through a weapon, such as a kunai, sword, or shuriken, to enhance its cutting power and range. The effects can vary depending on the user's chakra control, the amount of chakra channeled into the weapon, and the degree to which the user has focused that chakra. What you just witnessed was a significant amount of chakra combined with advanced control, but very little focus." The light clicked on. So _that's_ how he'd used it almost like some sort of whip.

"Ah, I get it. That's why it was so flexible, and why you could move it around so much. Which means that if you focused it more it'd be sharper, but you might lose some of the size and movement." He had to admit, it was a nice move. He rubbed at the soreness in his chest, spreading in a line where it had made contact. _Definitely one to remember._

"An impressive analysis. You're learning quickly." With that, the blade moved back into position.

"Now up. There's still much to do."

* * *

She should have listened when Sari warned her. She should have listened when _everyone_ told her not to associate with him. Gaara of the Sand was infamous for a number of things, and even if they weren't her actual parents, she still cared for the people who looked after her. She'd even been frightened of him, just like all the others were. But when she thought back on it he'd always just looked so…sad. So when she realized that he'd been watching their group of friends—though friends might have been too strong a word for some of them—much more often lately, she'd ignored that fear and all the warnings that seemed to justify it and spoken with him.

And now Sari was shaking in terror a few feet away, pretty much all of her other "friends" had run off—though she liked to think a few had gone to find help, rather than leave her behind altogether—and she was being shoved against the ground by the living sand. That swirling, grainy earth was nearly as feared as the one controlling it. Some of the villagers even said that it acted on its own, without its alleged master doing a single thing to control it. But together, they were known for only one thing: Once you were trapped within, you were never seen again. Not in any identifiable way, at least.

"P-please." How could Sari be pleading? She couldn't even take her eyes off of the redheaded boy, could barely form a coherent thought aside from the short and easy _What was I thinking oh god I don't want to die._

"We didn't—w-we didn't mean to—"

"You…wish to become a kunoichi." For a moment the words didn't make any sense. No, it was more the fact that he was even bothering to speak that was wrong. No one told stories about this, about any kind of questions or mind games or anything like that. Now, it seemed that her friend was the speechless one. What would happen if she answered him? If she didn't answer him? Did he really want an answer, or was he just thinking out loud?

"Yes." The word escaped her lips before she could try to reason it out. It was true, at least. She did want to become a kunoichi. But to do that she needed to use weapons, and after her parents…

"But you fear the weapons you must wield." Her eyes widened at the statement. Was he…could he read her thoughts somehow? Almost as if to prove her theory while denying it at the same time, he continued.

"I've been…observing you. Your peers. All of you. Why does the thought of wielding a weapon give you these feelings." That…could have been good or bad. Did this mean he was interested in them? Or was he simply looking for weaknesses, finding the best way to break them?

"My—" She swallowed, clearing the lump that formed in her throat at the thought. She wasn't the only orphan out there, she couldn't just fall apart whenever her past came up. "My parents were…"

"I see." He was silent again. He stared into her eyes. She stared back. Neither gave any particular attention to the girl watching silently from the side, somewhere between awe and gut-clenching terror…but also curiosity. Eventually the boy nodded, presumably coming to a decision of some sort. She actually found herself interested, fascinated even, in what he wanted to say.

"…This sand?" She felt it tighten, but much to her surprise it wasn't painful. It was almost like the way her foster father would squeeze her shoulder in those moments when she needed comfort. In some twisted, paradoxical way, it felt safe. "This is a weapon, no different than any kunai or shuriken. So why do you still live?"

That's what she'd been trying to figure out, wasn't it? Why she was still alive, why the center of so many horror stories in their village was more interested in discussing her career than in crushing her into dust? But really, the answer was quite simple.

"Because you're not trying to kill me." It didn't show in his expression, but she couldn't miss the way his eyes seemed to lighten, smile almost.

"Yes. A weapon may end life, but it does not take life. That is the choice of those who wield them. I command the sand, and you live because I have not killed you. Do you understand?"

"I…I think so." _Sort of. Maybe._

"A weapon, in of itself, is nothing to fear. This sand can tear through skin, rend muscle from bone, and crush that bone to dust. But now it surrounds you, and you remain completely unharmed. A weapon does not need to kill, only to incapacitate, and more importantly…to protect. What is your name?"

"Matsuri."

"Well then…Matsuri…I may know of a few weapons more suited to your character." What was that supposed to mean? Was he suggesting he had something like his sand? No, that would be impossible. Maybe some kind of net, or sleep gas—she'd heard some puppet wielders were known to use gasses like that. "How would you feel about an unofficial tutor?"

"You really mean that?" Tutored by Gaara of the Sand? The evil monster that plagued Sunagakure?

"I do." The boy with those sad eyes, watching them from the distance, offering to help someone in need.

"Yes, please."

He allowed himself a small smile at her acceptance. She had been his first student, the first to trust him as a teacher. Gaara had no intention of allowing her to be anything less than great.

* * *

When Naruto arrived, Danzou sat at a small table no doubt meant for two, untouched tea set out before him. Was this some kind of etiquette lesson? He wasn't big on the assassination gig, but the man had insisted on teaching him at least something about it. That lesson had included various details on proper behavior in settings where working undercover would be unavoidable.

_Ugh. I hope not._ Those were always so boring. Fortunately, something caught his notice. In place of the sword the older shinobi normally held was a simple, practical wooden cane.

"Wow, so you finally gave in and figured out you were old enough to need a real cane. About time, old ma—ow!" Naruto yelped as he grabbed at his stinging shin. Even sitting, the man could still hit him with speed that was just disturbing. "What'd you do that for?"

"A cane is still a moderately heavy length of wood. You should not lower your guard simply because I lack a blade at this particular moment."

"Yeah, message received." Naruto grumbled at his teacher as he took a seat.

"Good. I was about to have some tea. Would you care to join me, Uzumaki?" Was he being serious? They were actually doing something _relaxing_ for once and he expected a refusal?

"Yeah, sounds pretty good actually." Naruto reached out to grab the cup. His fingers had just brushed the edge when—

"Agh!" And how the stinging sensation was in his wrist. "Seriously? The hell is wrong with you?"

"I thought you were going to join me for tea?"

"I was," He made sure to put some extra menace into the glare, unaware of how utterly non-menacing it was on a boy just barely into eleven years "But then you went all cane-psycho on me."

"You should be more sensible than that." Ah. So it was probably a manners thing, then. Danzou did seem like the type who might put a lot of value on etiquette. Danzou leaned the cane against the table and placed his hand on a knee.

"Would you be so kind as to pour the tea?"

"Oh, right. No problem." He leaned over to pick up the—

"Dammit! Mother f—" Danzou watched on as Naruto broke into a stream of curses, nursing a new lump atop his head courtesy of the cane that once again rested firmly in the older shinobi's hand.

"I swear old man, you're really pushing it here!"

"Are we going to have a drink, or aren't we?"

"Oh, you…you…you're teaching me a lesson here, aren't you?"

"Now why would you think that?"

"Maybe because you keep hitting me with that stupid stick like a—" Naruto cut off, visibly forcing himself to relax. "Okay, I get it. Lesson. Time to teach, teach."

"What is one of the simplest ways to poison any individual in a non-combat situation?" Naruto felt compelled to slam his head into the table. Really? It was that simple? Of course he knew not to just eat or drink anything and everything he was offered, but this wasn't an enemy nation or a hostile village. This was Danzou's own underground bunker, possibly the safest place in the entire freaking village.

_Which is exactly the point he's making._

"You're telling me that even in Konoha I should be on guard for things like this." Danzou nodded, though whether or not he was pleased was impossible to tell. In all honesty, Naruto had never really considered the idea before. He knew that plenty of villagers didn't like him, but they weren't usually the type he'd think of as clever enough to do anything but yell and maybe chase him around if he did something especially annoying. And he'd never really had anything in the way of dealings with the powerful clans, where that kind of political or social infighting was more likely. Then again, couldn't one of the shinobi or a clan member have just as easily shown a civilian how to do it? Convinced them, even? He knew there were those like Mizuki, who definitely wouldn't mind getting rid of him in a more permanent way…

_Ugh. This man's going to turn me into a paranoid psycho._

"Great, I get it. I probably should've let you pour the tea, or try it first, or politely refused, or something like that. That's nice and all, but you totally didn't need to smack me with the cane every two seconds just for that."

He couldn't see it through that unchanging, passive expression, but oh could he feel the smirk coming from his temporary teacher. This man was out to get him.

_Yep. Paranoid._

* * *

"I'm impressed. You've actually managed to recover from that little upset in your grand scheme."

"There may be only one destination, but there are many paths. If one is obstructed, a true shinobi can find his way to the next and continue towards the objective."

"A nice philosophy, but you invested so much in dear little Itachi. And after all the work I went to just to help you with your little Uchiha situation." Kabuto gave a mocking, cheerful tut as Danzou stared back with indifference.

"You can't honestly believe that I would place all my bets on a single card, in but a single hand. The threat of the Uchiha Clan has been dealt with for the time being, Root remains active, Uchiha Itachi has been integrated into Madara's circle, and the Jinchuuriki has begun to progress even further towards becoming a powerful weapon for this village. Perhaps this new hand is not as great as it _could_ have been, but all in all I'd say it's quite impressive."

"My, my, so opportunistic and manipulative. I can see why Orochimaru-sama liked you so much."

"And yourself?"

"Me? I like you well enough. By the way, since we're on the subject of Orochimaru…"

* * *

"Crap!" Naruto panted out, sweat trailing down his back as he let the chakra fade from around the shuriken.

"Hm?"

"This is ridiculous!" Danzou's finger tapped against the cup in his hand, cane resting beside him.

"I didn't take you for the type to give up so easily."

"Give up? You kidding me? The challenge is half the fun! One day I'll be Hokage and there's nothing you can throw in my way to stop me, dattebayo!" _Ah hell._ Did he really just say that? He'd outgrown that habit so long ago, but every now and then it just seemed to slip out. It must've been a curse.

"Hmph." Naruto did a double take. That grunt sounded suspiciously like a snicker, at least in comparison to his typical responses.

"What? What's so funny?" Danzou waved it off, returning to his drink.

"It's nothing."

"Come on, you never crack that dull expression for anything. You can't just leave me hanging like this." He must have been spending too much time with the man, because a few weeks earlier he would have completely missed all the telltale signs that the older man was considering a real answer instead of just dismissing the subject.

"You…sounded like your mother, for a moment." And not for the first time, Danzou had something to say that Naruto couldn't have predicted.

"My mother?" Naruto's curiosity was piqued. The man almost never spoke of his parents, save for a few tidbits about one or two low-ranking missions. Danzou gave him a stiff nod and began to elaborate.

"As I understand it, whenever Kushina was frustrated or excited, she often ended her speeches with nonsense words as well. One of the few things about her I've learned that doesn't revolve around her career. Some of those quirks made her quite famous among her peers."

Naruto flushed at that, pleased to hear that he had something in common with her. His attempts to envision what she must have looked like going on a rant, sounded like when saying his childish catchphrase, was interrupted swiftly.

"Now, back to work. I want that jutsu completed before you leave here."

And with the thought of his mother in mind, Naruto leapt back into work with a renewed vigor.

* * *

"Why are you so determined to keep Orochimaru alive?"

"Everyone must play the parts they were meant to play. Orochimaru is one of the most important pieces I have."

"And yet he has nothing that you do not already possess. Edo Tensei? I am evidence enough that you have mastered that. His Ninjutsu? I have watched as your skills improved day after day, and you are at least his equal in that regard. His summoning contract? I have seen that…thing…that you've created, that monster. What is it that gives him such value?"

"Being him is what gives him value."

"How so?"

"Pawns are often underestimated. They're the weakest pieces, after all. Many are willing to sacrifice them without thought because they forget that a mere pawn, when played correctly, can be the most deadly weapon of all."

"That does little to answer the question."

"It will all be clear in due time, my dear Sasori. But until then, I was wondering: How are you adjusting to that new body of yours?"

* * *

AN: Just a few scenes as the years pass by. I'm not fond of plain and simple cutoff time skips. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, and I don't feel like it would have worked here. So I decided to give a few glimpses into some of the things going on without getting too bogged down in details. Also, a few hints for future plans here and there, some obvious and others…less so.


	13. Graduation

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

AN: Not really a lot else to say here. I'm trying a new schedule where I focus on one or two fics for a while, pause them, focus on another two for a while, rinse and repeat. I figured that maybe one of my problems is I tried to focus on too many at once and the result was not getting any of them updated often.

* * *

"What's the plan today, Dan-san?" They were in Danzou's office again, at the same time they always met. Danzou sat at his plain and unornamented desk, once again donning his normal expressionless appearance.

"No training today."

"Nothing? No bashing me in the head for drinking tea? No burning my hands half off to concentrate chakra on a knife? No volunteering your injured lackeys so I have something to practice medical skills on? None of that?"

"None."

"…Huh. Well, how about that."

"When we first made this agreement, one of the conditions was that you would occasionally be tasked with certain duties on behalf of Root. With your final test to become a Genin tomorrow, the time has come for the first of these assignments."

"What'd you have in mind?"

"As you know, for some time I made it Root's business to keep a close eye on you. While I may have become more lenient in that regard, I have also taken measures to observe those with whom you interact. I have it on good authority that one of your instructors, a certain Koume Mizuki, is planning to defect from Konohagakure."

"You're kidding, right? You really think Mizuki-sensei would so something like that?" Naruto made sure to raise his voice in what he hoped was a surprised tone. Danzou was less than impressed with the performance.

"I've met with you on, at the absolute minimum, a weekly basis for the last two years. I know you aren't that gullible." Well that didn't work. Then again, after a few hundred tries, he'd decided that bluffing Danzou with overdramatic reactions probably never would. Sooner or later he _would_ get the man to crack a smile.

"Yeah, okay, I can tell you I always got a weird sort of feeling from the guy. What are you going to do about it?"

"The story provided to the public has always been that your abilities were residual effects from the sealing your father performed. Lower ranking shinobi have been informed that you had some basic awareness of your _condition_, but that the exact nature of your relationship with the Kyuubi is a mystery to you, and that your skills are the result of some personal tutelage in an attempt to prevent you from losing control of your powers. The Jonin are aware that you know the complete truth about the Kyuubi, but they are in the minority."

"So Mizuki thinks that I've just had a little extra training to keep me in line."

"Indeed. However, as with many who lack an understanding of the advanced techniques your father used in the seal, he doesn't understand the difference between you and the Kyuubi. In the minds of many you are an explosive just one touch away from detonating, rather than a trap prepared with caution and security, only springing upon those who pose a threat." Man, it was always the weapon analogies with this one.

"Yeah, I've noticed. I'm not the most popular kid in the village. Kind of figured the fuzzball had something to do with it."

"Of course you have. I told you, I'm well aware of the fact that you're not nearly as gullible as you like to pretend. However, this instructor is not quite so observant. I have reason to believe he will attempt to steal the Scroll of Seals that holds the forbidden jutsu restricted by the First Hokage himself. It would be _convenient_ if he were to capitalize on your failure in the coming examination to do so."

The Scroll of Seals…Naruto had actually been unsure of just what he should do about that. It wasn't as though he needed it for the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique anymore. Danzou and the Third Hokage believed it when he told them that he'd basically figured it out on his own after failing the normal version so many times that the Kyuubi had finally gotten tired and explained that their chakra was screwing the process up. Still, it'd be nice to have a line to feed to people who weren't "in the know" about how much he knew about the fox, and he'd get to take down a traitor while he was at it. On the other hand, Mizuki was pretty small fry. He was a recognized Chunin of the village and he _still_ needed an academy dead last and failure to steal it for him.

"My fail—wait, you want me to fail on purpose? You know I'm not a fan of all your assassination bull, but if he's really a traitor why don't you just haul him in or kill him or something?"

"I have many sources. Unfortunately, reliable as these sources are, they rarely come with physical evidence to support every claim. Word-of-mouth is of limited use as evidence to condone our actions, and the only other option would be to compromise my source's position.

"How do you know this person is reliable?" Oh sure, _he_ knew what Mizuki's true colors were, but he had a bit of an advantage. Besides, Danzou was always telling him to use his natural talent for rambling and asking ridiculous questions to his advantage because people didn't think he'd be clever enough to weasel information out of them.

"Konohagakure has had its fair share of underhanded dealings. My organization is often the one to handle such matters. Naturally, I have acquired a few sources with less than desirable reputations. Even if one didn't intend to use the techniques hidden within, it would still be a premium item for sale to a number of parties. My source, in this case, has had many dealings in certain markets where such an item would be sought after."

"So basically he'll use it and sell it to the highest bidder, and this source of yours is either a possible buyer or the guy who handles the exchange." Two years, and yet he _still_ couldn't bring himself to feel comfortable at the casual way Danzou discussed things like this. He treated assassination, kidnapping, thievery, black markets, and all manner of things like they were just having another lesson on how to act properly when sharing tea with someone important…it was just creepy. Yeah, okay, he could get that some of the stuff they did was necessary, but still…

"Something like that. Either way, the most viable solution is to lure the traitor into a situation where he would be forced to reveal himself in front of witnesses. And that is why I need you." Now _that_ he could work with.

"Because a Genin who screws up on an exam after spending so much time talking about how he's going to be Hokage one day is easy pickings. Especially since he already hates me and probably wouldn't feel conflicted over tricking me. Might even enjoy it."

"Precisely." They stood in silence as Naruto waited for more details. And stood…and stared…and stood…and he really, really needed to break this silence.

"So do you have any kind of plan besides 'fail the exam', or should I just wing it?"

"Self-reliance is an important skill for all shinobi to possess. It will be a test of your ability to manipulate a situation to your advantage." His shoulders slumped at Danzou's sort-of answer.

"Wing it, then."

"You've already pretended to be incapable of passing it several times already, for reasons that I can only imagine. Pulling it off one more time shouldn't be too difficult."

"But what if I actually _wanted_ to graduate this time?" There was no point in denying it. He'd done the same thing as before, electing to take the exam long before academy students were expected to pass, and failed the standard Clone Technique just like he always had. It was only partially an act. Sakura had helped him with the technique a few times, but even after what he'd been through over the years his chakra control had been substandard. Spending years cramming chakra into Shadow Clones probably didn't help, considering he'd essentially turned it into an instinctive habit. All that ridiculous chakra flow training with Danzou had done him a big favor in that department.

And now that he was confident he _could_ create enough of the normal versions to pass the exam, Danzou was telling him to fail and out Mizuki. Go figure. Oh well, it was probably better to deal with Mizuki now than let him do something stupid in the future. He'd never be able to forgive himself if he passed up a chance to stop him and the fool actually ended up causing harm somehow.

"Leave that little problem to me. I'll take care of it when your assignment is complete."

"Right. You do that." So, what was he going to do? _Wait…_

"Hey Danzou, mind if I borrow Poodle-san?" He still didn't know many of their names or faces. In fact, the only one he knew at all was Sai, and it wasn't like he could call him by a name he'd yet to receive or pick him out of the several other agents and trainees that age when they were covered up. All he could really rely on were the ANBU-style masks, and he'd made it a goal of his to refer to them by titles with as little seriousness as possible. And thus, Naruto had appropriately decided on "Poodle-san" for—

"You can borrow _Fox_ if you believe it is necessary, yes. However, remember that Root is not to be implicated in whatever you may be planning."

"No problem, Dan-san."

As he made his way back to the apartment to get a good rest that night, Naruto was quite certain he could solve the entire Mizuki issue with minimum bloodshed. Except when it came to Mizuki. He still fully intended to beat the living daylights out of _that_ jerk.

And so it was that the next morning, he took his usual place in the classroom on the side of Sakura opposite of Sasuke, waiting for his turn to come. As he listened to Sakura, he noted that looked more nervous than he did—she'd been whispering advice on the Clone Technique since the moment they'd sat down—which was a bit strange considering that it was _his_ turn to take the exam. Then again, she'd actually gotten to know him much earlier, so maybe this was how she would have acted in the previous time around if she'd known that a friend was about to take a test he'd failed at least twice before. He made a show of mouthing off before he went in, taking in the expressions of his classmates in the process. Most were the same as always, but there seemed to be a hint of anxiety in all of their faces that he'd never noticed, especially the ones that he knew were going to pass. The fact that several of those glances coming his way was not lost on him.

After he'd finished with his typical bragging he went into the testing room and stood before Iruka, waiting for them to call out the test that he definitely could have passed if not for Danzou. And when they did, just as he'd done in every test before this one, Naruto crammed as much chakra as he reasonably could without any of the control and watched as Iruka and Mizuki winced at the sight. The two clones flopped lifelessly to the floor, resembling him in little more than the basic coloring of the clothes. Amusement fought for control of his expression at the faces of his instructors when his reaction was considerably less animated than usual.

"Well…that sucks."

"Naruto," Iruka said with a slight sigh. "I'm sorry to say that you've failed again."

"Oh come on Iruka-sensei!"

"Iruka," Naruto had to resist the urge to smirk as Mizuki took the bait "Maybe we should let him pass. He did make two clones after all, and they're definitely better than his previous attempts so we know he's showing some signs of improvement."

"And I'm glad to see that, but I can't make any exceptions. All of the others can make at least three perfect copies. Naruto, on the other hand, hasn't made even one functional clone. I'm sorry Naruto."

"It's—" He schooled his face into the perfect picture of dejection. He even managed to make his eyes water, and that was a feat all things considered. Failing to pass an exam that he knew he could pass as part of a scheme he'd cooked up beforehand wasn't all that trying as compared to, say, talking some sense into Zabuza. "It's alright. I'm just gonna go, if that's…"

"Of course." Iruka had those same eyes, not pitying, but understanding and sympathetic in a way that no one before him ever had, even the Hokage. What would he have ever done all those years without his sensei around?

When he left, he did so quickly, just barely catching a glimpse of his friends' faces. They must have noticed the look on his face, because it was definitely pity he was seeing in all of theirs. Hah! It might all be worth it just to see the looks they'd send his way when he showed up for their team assignments tomorrow and realized that he'd actually managed to get in somehow or another. But for now, he had a plan to set in motion.

It was several hours later when Mizuki found him on a high rooftop near sunset. He hadn't even bothered going to the graduation. The remarks didn't really faze him, not after hearing so many, but that didn't mean he _wanted_ to catch all the whispers and glares that parents tended to send his way. Especially the ones they made on that day, when he'd failed the graduation—the one students of his age were expected to pass, rather than the optional ones he'd taken several times before. And right on schedule, his traitorous instructor showed his face.

"Hey there, kid."

"Huh? Hey, Mizuki-sensei."

"You okay?"

"I guess. Thanks, by the way. For sticking up for me earlier."

"No problem, kiddo. You've always been a determined little student, even if you're not the best I've ever seen."

"I just…I wish I knew why Iruka doesn't want me to be a shinobi."

"Naruto, he _does_ want you to be one of us. Iruka just thinks that you're failing because you're not putting enough effort in, and wants you to succeed. He's hard on you because, as your teacher, he needs to push you to do your best." That, at least, he knew was the truth. Iruka really had always been one to push him to do his best instead of letting him slip by with excuses and shortcuts. The first person to truly inspire his creed as a ninja, to never give up and never give anything less than his best.

"But I _am_ doing my best." _Or not_. "It's just never good enough. How can I ever be Hokage if I can't even get out of the academy?"

"You know…there _is_ another way you might be able to graduate."

"What? You mean I can still do it?"

"It's a special test, one that we normally don't tell students about because having to go through it again can motivate them or weed out the ones who aren't really serious. But I can tell you've got the drive. You just have a problem with one or two techniques, and like I said earlier today, the improvement's obvious."

"T-thanks, Mizuki-sensei." Oh, how he wanted to just beat the man senseless here and now. He didn't _hate_ Mizuki, per se, but the man had hurt Iruka and betrayed the village for power. And as far as he knew, unlike a certain Uchiha, Mizuki didn't have the excuse of being driven completely insane by a psychotic elder brother who forced him to relive the slaughter of his entire family for days on end. "So tell me about this test!"

"Her, I'll explain what you have to do…"

Then the games began. Nightfall came, and he retrieved the scroll just as easily as before, taking the Third Hokage down with his infamous Sexy Jutsu. Though honestly, he suspected that the man wasn't as severely affected as he seemed. He'd recovered awfully quick, after all, and he doubted they would name someone Hokage if they could be downed by little more than a pretty girl showing a bit of skin. And so it was that after a few hours of meandering around in the forest, a certain brown-haired Chunin instructor happened upon him lounging against a tree, scroll at his side.

"Naruto!"

"Iruka-sen—" A fist came crashing down on his head, but he could hear the fear breaking through the anger in the older man's voice.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Naruto? The entire village is up in arms trying to track you down!"

"Man, you're really awesome Iruka-sensei! Guess I couldn't hide for you the whole time, but do I still get to pass?" Confusion etched itself across his teacher's face at the question.

"Pass? What on earth are you talking about?"

"Mizuki-sensei told me all about the special extra test for students who might not pass the normal one. I didn't master the whole scroll like he said, but I did manage to learn one." He pretended not to notice the look of horror dawning on the shinobi's face as he realized what Naruto was implying. "But that's still not too bad, right? So do I pass?"

"Mizuki told you this?" Naruto nodded, the excitement on his face completely real. It was showtime. "Naruto, I need you to give me that scroll. Mizuke played you, he's—"

"There you are!" Mizuki appeared on one of the branches above the duo, anger clouding his features. "Thank heavens you found him before he could do anything foolish, Iruka. To think you would steal the Scroll of Seals just because you couldn't pass a simple exam…you're going to be in serious trouble for this, Uzumaki."

"What? But-but you said—"

"But maybe," Mizuki's voice went softer, a hint of slyness coming through the obviously false anger and disappointment. "Maybe if you gave me the scroll and came quietly, we could spin this. You didn't realize how important it was, you were just having fun. How does that sound?"

"Don't listen to him Naruto, he's playing you!"

"No, Iruka's the one you shouldn't obey. He despises you, and we all know it! He hates you for what happened twelve years ago, just like so many other people."

"Twelve years ago?"

"Don't do this! The Hokage put down that law for a reason!"

"Haven't you ever wondered why so many people whisper behind your back? Why they kick you out of shops before you've even tried to buy anything? Why every prank you play is treated like it was a severe crime."

"W-why?"

"Mizuki, no!"

"Because you're the Kyuubi no Yoko! Yes, that's right. Twelve years ago the Fourth Hokage died, and you were the cause. And what's more, Iruka's parents died in the attack that night. _That's_ why he hates you so much. _That's_ why you'll always fail in the eyes of every person in Konoha! _That's_ why you need to give me the scroll—he's trying to sabotage you."

"Naruto…"

"I'll give you the scroll." Iruka's eyes shot to his student, letting out a cry as Naruto tossed the school to his fellow instructor.

"Naruto, no!" Mizuki kept them in sight as he began to undo the scroll, curiosity more overwhelming than the desire to escape immediately.

"How pathetic. I admit I expected a bit more fight out of you. With this scroll I'll…I'll" Much to Iruka's confusion, Mizuki turned wide eyes on the smirking Naruto. "What the hell is this?"

"That?" Naruto took on a relaxed pose, eyes closed and hands folded behind his head. "Oh, you mean the fake scroll that I used to replace the real Scroll of Seals because you were obviously full of crap the whole time? Yeah, that's my bad."

"You—you little piece of shit!"

"Totally pulled one over on you, Mizuki-sensei! No way I'd give you the scroll that the First Hokage made off limits to everybody _but_ the Hokage."

"Naruto, you really…?"

"Don't worry Iruka-sensei, that scroll's safe and sound. Oh, and all that stuff about me being the Kyuubi? That's nothing new to me. I know that the Fourth Hokage sealed it in my body twelve years ago, and I know that a lot of people hate me because they need something to blame. But, well, I am sorry about what happened to your parents, Iruka-sensei" Mizuki was sputtering in rage, but he wasn't making any sort of move. Iruka's eyes softened as he spoke.

"I don't, Naruto. Maybe I did at first, but I could never blame you after I finally got to know you. You may not be the greatest student in the world, but you've always given it your all and I know how much you care about this village. You're not the Kyuubi, you're Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leaf." Somehow, the words still brought tears to his eyes. Maybe it was because Iruka was the first shinobi to openly declare his acceptance, or maybe it was because the speech brought memories of a bleeding Iruka putting his life on the line to protect him, but the man's actions still tugged at his heart.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." He brushed his sleeve over his eyes and blinked a few times to clear his view before turning to the other academy teacher. "So whattya say, Mizuki-_sensei_? You think I'm the Kyuubi right? You want revenge and all that?"

"You really think you're not—"

"Well, duh. But since you obviously don't get it, I think I'll prove you wrong by _not_ killing you after I beat your ass into the dirt. How's that sound?" The rage seemed to have left the older man, replaced by an arrogant scoffing.

"Please. That trick with the scroll wasn't half bad, but everyone still thinks you stole it. All I have to do is kill you and your precious Iruka-sensei, and that'll be the easiest thing I've done all night. You really think you can take a Chunin like me? You, a pathetic brat who couldn't even get out of the academy because of something as basic as the Clone Technique? I'll destroy you in one move."

"Heh. I do suck at the Clone Technique, don't I? See, I've always had this problem with chakra control. I put out a lot of chakra, but don't focus it well enough to put enough into the clone and usually end up losing a lot of extra. Thing is, I always failed because I wanted to pass it like everyone else. But I'll make an exception this time." He formed his hands into his trademark sign, one that he'd supposedly learned from the Scroll of Seals before replacing it with a fake. A little funny, considering he really _did_ learn it from said scroll once.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu." Both Chunin's eyes shot around the forest, one in horror but both in awe, at the sight of well over one thousand copies of the boy standing between them.

"These are—These are _solid_ clones!"

"Looks like this time I'm teaching _you_ a lesson!"

"No, no!" The clones charged, and the "battle" was over in seconds.

"Naruto, that was incredible!" He turned back to Iruka, neither of them particularly concerned with the unconscious and slightly twitchy Chunin on the ground behind him.

"Yeah, guess it wasn't half-bad, eh sensei? Would've been nice if I'd managed that in the test though. And…thanks for looking out for me, and always pushing me, and always believing in me even when I screwed up. I know you've been nicer than most of the others at school."

"Naruto…hey, close your eyes for a second."

"What?" _Here it comes._ It was probably one of the greatest moments in his life, and the feeling was the same now. This was it, this was the moment that he became a Genin.

"Just trust me." _Always._ He closed his eyes, felt the forehead protector being wrapped around his forehead. "There you go."

If he didn't know better, he could've sworn they heard his cheering as far as Suna.

* * *

For once, he wasn't meeting with Danzou in an office, or a training room, or some other secure, closed-off location. Instead, they sat looking out at the village from the Hokage Monument, atop the Fourth Hokage's likeness in the early hours of the morning, as the sun began to rise over the horizon.

"He got the scroll back to you then?" Everything had gone exactly according to plan. Fox had followed close behind after he'd explained the plan and picked up the scroll, returning to Danzou while he took care of the traitor. Danzou would take care of returning it to the Hokage and explaining.

"It is safe in the Third's hands once more."

"That's good. And how did you explain that one away?"

"Hm? The Third has known that I've been tutoring you for some time. He kept you under close observation, of course, but he seems satisfied that I'm not attempting to make an agent out of you. I explained your situation during the chaos and he agreed to let you give it your best attempt."

"Cool. But wait, doesn't that mean I could've met you for training _without_ sneaking around?" They stared in silence, Danzou took a sip of tea, and as per usual, Naruto gave up. Of course he could have just waltzed into his meetings with Root's leader, but that would've been too easy. "So…Iruka-sensei passed me after my little show. Cool, huh?"

"I suppose that means I don't need to handle your passing grade. You did an impressive job, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Heh. Thanks."

"I suppose a gift to celebrate your graduation is in order."

"Huh?" Danzou slipped his hand into his robes, pulling out a small scroll. He unrolled it as Naruto watched on curiously, and with a puff of smoke a wooden box maybe a foot and a half long appeared. Danzou ran his hand over the smooth wood for a moment and offered it to the younger shinobi. Naruto accepted the gift hesitantly, half expecting the man to whip out the cane and smack him off the monument as a lesson about accepting gifts without checking them properly for traps.

"Your training under Root, at least for the time being, was completed with your graduation. Traditionally it is appropriate to grant a young shinobi a gift of congratulations for progressing this far." Naruto pulled the lid open to reveal a tantō, about fifteen inches from end to end, with a dark blue-black blade. It had the normal tip one would expect, with the double-edged blade and diamond-shaped cross section of the Moroha design, so it definitely wasn't one of those used by Root.

"You're seriously giving me this? No catch? No insane lesson that I'll only learn by getting caned with a huge hunk of wood?"

"None. It should be a useful asset in your future endeavors. The metal is a special material designed to conduct chakra and absorb any excess, making it quite efficient for chakra flow techniques such as those you've learned in our sessions."

"Nice." He drew the blade, took a moment to finger the smooth surface of the metal and send a small, experimental burst of chakra through it. He could almost feel it collecting in the metal, just as the older man had told him it would. "Very nice."

"Don't expect to receive another. Not all weapons are as simple to replace as your typical kunai. The most effective weapon is one that you have been sure to maintain with care and efficiency." Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the senior shinobi's words.

"Why do I get the feeling you're not just talking about the sword?"

"Think whatever you wish." Naruto smiled, sliding the blade back into its saya.

"Thank you, Shimura-sensei."

* * *

AN: So, there goes another chapter.


End file.
